Flight of the Intruders
by mazinkaiser
Summary: A young man and a war machine was separately thrown into a chaotic future where men and women fight for dominance and an unseen enemy is waiting for the war to come into "fruition" to pick off the survivors...literally. They have to join a ragtag group of people with a new untested ship along with its partner mechas and fight in order to survive and maybe...even return home.
1. Why am I here?

Hello, everyone. I am Mazinkaiser and this is a feature story about a young man and his fearsome fighting machine.

Unlike most other characters (OCs), this one is a complete newbie in nearly everything related to combat (including strategy and tactics) and he will really be in need of assistance to coach him on how to become a good pilot as well as a well-rounded warrior.

So if you rudely call him a Gary-Stu, I will gladly send a Turbo Smasher Punch to your face immediately.

(Takes deep simulated breaths to calm himself down) This is by no means an epic story like so many others in this site, but merely an attempt of a newcomer writer to learn the ropes of writing a good story.

Now, let us start this little tale of friendship, teamwork, fate, and acceptance with...

* * *

Chapter 1 – **Why am I here?**

Light Rail Transit – Central Station, Manila – 7:35 AM, November 26, 1994

"Dammit, I'm late."

A black haired young man of eighteen years was just getting out (more like he was pushing his way out of) the elevated rail transit car that he had ridden on his way to his 7:30 AM Analytic Geometry class in MIT.

The said college is located in nearby Intramuros, a good thirty minute trek from the station.

The young man had either snaked past or roughly shoved his fellow riders out of his path on his way towards the concrete steps on the right side of the elevated station's through platform that was heading down.

After running down the stairs, his quickened steps had startled the other people going the same way as he, the said young man had also snaked past the aluminium bar type revolving door exit, twisting his large body frame to fit the narrow space between bars separating the spaces where people enter and exit of.

All of this was done because the young man was trying to make it to his first class in only fifteen minutes.

As fate would have it, a sudden earthquake registering an eight in the Richter scale had rocked the whole city.

Nearby buildings were shaken with some windows being broken through while nearby trees shook their leafy covers.

A crack, big enough for a full grown man to fall through, had opened up in the concrete sidewalk, just meters away from the LRT. It was just his bad luck that our hero had skidded to a halt right at the edge of the yawning void right after exiting the aforementioned station.

Our hero had vainly tried to hang onto anything strong enough to keep him upright and in one place to no avail. The sudden vibrations of the earth beneath his shoes had pushed the young man into the hole and he disappeared in the darkness of the abyss.

-oOo-

"Are you functional?" A cold mechanical voice had just reached the young man's ears as he tried to open his brown eyes and regain his bearings. "Answer me, human. Are you functional?"

"Y-yeah, I'm…ok?" The brunet had to blink twice since he was sprawled in a cockpit of some sort. The young man had studied his cramped surroundings as he added. "Where am I?"

His right hand was actually clutching on the back of the leather seat where he was lying on while his left hand was leaning on one of the strange control levers.

As for his left foot, it was lying on the other control lever. The remaining limb was stuck in between the back rest and elbow guard of the said seat.

The only lights that our hero could see were those from the various instrument panels and a low intensity overhead light.

His head was lying on the lower edge of the seat and his right shoe was touching the side of the cockpit where some buttons and displays lie.

"You are inside my cockpit, human." The voice had answered with nary a hint of emotion. "I am Wing Gundum Zero and my model number is XXXG-00W0. I am considered to be the ultimate fighting machine among my fellow mobile suits until my destruction, more than a year later. So what is your name, human?"

"Huh?!"

The young man was completely confused with the given explanation but he had figured that he could at least learn as much as he can while still inside this strange machine, umm gundum.

Thus, when the young man had opened his mouth, he said with a flick of his tousled hair.

"Oh, I'm just William Zapanta, an engineering student from Mapua Institute of Technology."

After pausing to study where the voice was coming from, Willam added. "So what are ya exactly?"

"I am a mobile suit designed by five Colonial scientists to fight other mobile suits built by the Romafeller Foundation and later the Barton Foundation."

"It was a blond young man who gave me my physical form before using me to commit widespread destruction in his mentally unstable state at the time." Zero had continued its introduction, hoping that his new pilot could understand it better.

Seeing the bewildered look on his pilot's face, the Artificial Intelligence continued. "I take it that you are not familiar with some terminologies that I had just spoken of, Hu-Zapanta."

"I guess so; I mean there aren't any Romafeller Foundations where I come from. Same for the Bartons, but there is a Rockefeller foundation though." The Filipino answered before he had paused to think for a few seconds.

"Maybe even a Carnegie foundation too but no Romafeller or Barton foundations, that's for sure." William then continued to babble when he had abruptly made a delayed double take. "What the heck is a mobile suit anyway?"

Zero was about to answer with an audible snort when various sounds had filled the cockpit.

The half-spherical three-dimensional radar and the viewing screen above it in front of the human had lit up, bathing the Filipino in blue light as he had strapped himself in his seat.

Within the smaller LCD screen, a blocky battle wagon bristling with weaponry was seen approaching the stationary gundum with reckless abandon.

The aforementioned radar had pinpointed the warship's location among the other blips as was seen by its confused soon to be user in the translucent and glowing hemisphere.

"It would seem that there are a lot of enemy craft in this sector of space," The AI's voice had remained unchanged when he told his observation to his passenger and pilot. "Since I cannot pilot myself, you will have to do everything that I say. Otherwise, we will both perish."

"Jeez, at least have some faith in me." William had replied with a slight pout that hid his glee since he has always wanted to be a pilot since he was young. "Even then, I'm all ears."

"Good."

The shakedown within Taraak's local space has just begun.

-oOo-

The giant red, blue and white robot had shot up on its rear thrusters as it had evaded the first shells being fired upon it.

The winged gundum had turned right, and then left before diving as more shells were being fired upon it.

Even then, it was hit a few times with little to no damage to its superstructure but the hits themselves were enough to rattle the novice pilot within it.

"Jeez, these guys can actually fire cannons in space?!" William said as he was already feeling the fatigue from twisting, pulling, or pushing the control levers which were housing a new form of HOTAS (Hands on Throttle and Stick) while depressing on both foot pedals, all of which were done at nearly the same time. "How the hell can they even do that in zero gravity and in vacuum no less?"

"Maybe we have come to a planet where the inhabitants are advanced enough to overcome such technicalities and figured out that projectiles can move faster in vacuum," Zero replied in between instructions.

"Whose side are ya on anyway?"

"Yours of course, unless you have become a liability in piloting my physical self." came the reply from the AI.

It was by this time that William had kept quiet and slowly moved the large machine to a blind spot in the ship's targeting systems and shakily aimed the twin buster rifle.

He had pulled the triggers once, blistering the ship's aft side and incinerating a lot of the ship's cannons in its wake.

After doing the deed, William had guided Zero to another vector before pushing the HOTAS levers forward as hard as he could.

The back-mounted thrusters had responded by igniting its escaping gasses even more as the super-heated gases had pushed the giant machine out of the firing range of the battleship's remaining guns and later its visual and sensor range as well.

-oOo-

"Sir, we have engaged the strange craft our sensors had picked up earlier." The commander of the disabled ship had told the general of the Taraak space forces as the latter had asked them to report the reason for their absence in earlier maneuvers.

"It was a humanoid robot that is even bigger than our vanguard units," He said after his superior had granted him permission to continue. "It was also fast enough to evade most of our fire and it had also fired some sort of beam on us, disabling most of our ship's weapons."

"Prepare for immediate retreat," was the immediate reply. "Women pirates are already assaulting our positions and are already boarding the Ikazuchi even as we speak. We do not have enough time and manpower to deal with a single robot."

The crew of the Todoroki was shocked with the news. The captain through the communication officer then asked what could be done with the attacking women.

The Ikazuchi had replied that they were now preparing for separation following the defeat of most of their vanguard fighters and would direct their own section for a torpedo attack once they themselves were out of the coming explosion's reach.

It was then that the captain remarked. "By Grandpa, the women will pay for their crimes."

-oOo-

"Nice work, Zapanta." The AI's voice rang out from its interior speakers. "I am surprised that you managed to evade all the shells fired at us and even fire the twin buster rifle without screwing up. It is a pity that you did not destroy them as well."

"Thanks, I think." William replied with his voice unsure and his hands were still shaking from the pent up anxiety. "I don't like to kill people, Zero. But I will, when I have no other choice."

After a beat, he continued. "Besides, this control system sure takes a lot of getting used to. I still don't know all of the basics of actually using the HOTAS or foot pedals correctly even with all you had told me. More than that, I'm still confused as to how to even activate the weaponries even now."

The Filipino had shakily drawn his light green handkerchief with some intricate design from his right Canadian Club blue jeans pocket while he was still speaking.

His light blue polo shirt was already drenched with sweat just below the collar area.

An audible snort was heard in the speakers before Zero said. "It is imperative that you learn how to pilot me efficiently since it is the only thing that will keep us alive much long- Watch Out!"

The Filipino teen had twisted the right lever while giving it a slight push forward as he had let out a grunt of his own.

His right foot was also depressing the left foot pedal to steer the gundum to the relative left.

A flight of missiles had gone past the now mobile giant machine's feet.

On the screen in front and above the hemispherical radar screen, a space fighter was shown to the puzzled pilot as the craft had followed its spent ordnance past the winged gundum before going back for a second run.

This time, Wing Zero was waiting for it. When the alien craft was near enough to fire its second flight of missiles with lesser chances of missing the target, the gundum had shot upward with help from its twin boosters on its back.

After reaching a certain height, the two machine cannons had swiveled up from their hiding places in the mobile suit's shoulders and destroyed the chasing missiles in seconds.

The dread's pilot, seeing that her target was much more dangerous than she initially thought, had herded her ship back to its squadron.

She had never even thought that her enemy had actually managed to pull off the successful counter attack through sheer luck alone and nothing else.

"Thanks for the advice, Zero. I'm beginning to see what you meant earlier." William was already easing his grip on the right HOTAS handle while his brown eyes were locked on the screen before him, alert to any incoming attack.

"Still, can we go a little faster than this? I admit I'm still a newbie to mobile suit piloting or even piloting in general so I'd rather run away to fight another day, y'know what I mean?" The Filipino added quickly after leading the gundum on another vector.

"Humph, you humans are such queer creatures." The deep bass voice had rang out. "Some of my former pilots fought to the death without even blinking an eyelash. Although you do have a point so I will train you until you can actually pilot me as it should be."

"If you would push the lever, the one just above your left hand, 125 centimeters forward then I can change into my alternate mode or what is called as Neo Bird mode. In that mode, we can move much faster and probably escape." Zero added after a beat.

"Here goes nothin'," William was saying as he did exactly Zero had said.

In minutes, the whole gundum has transformed into a giant metal bird with its shield serving as the bird's faceless head and its twin buster rifles as its retracted claws.

The wing binders had elongated and moved slightly to allow its shell-like wings to unfold as well.

Its upper torso did a 180 degree turn in its axis while the shield had connected itself at the head and its hands had attached itself to each side of the torso.

Only the machine's legs had remained relatively unchanged in their positions as it had bent slightly forward, just enough to let the foot thrusters emerge from its metal soles.

After the transformation was done, the gundum had flown towards the desert planet below with increased speed.

It had shot past vanguards, dreads, and even blocky battleships while dodging lasers, missiles, cannon fire, and even some sword slashes or spear thrusts from the said machines with a few hits to its exterior armor.

Both its pilot and artificial intelligence were hoping to re-stock, re-arm, and even refuel in the planet below.

But the most important thing they were after was information on where in the universe they are as well as when.

After bypassing a giant space fortress where most of the battles had taken place, something puzzling had happened. The fortress had suddenly broken apart into three sections.

It then lit up like a star after two huge missiles from one of its detached sections were fired in its direction, nearly blinding the novice pilot.

In response, William had steered Wing Zero to the right both to avoid the glare and to escape the coming explosion.

But the light had somehow enveloped the escaping gundum near it before disappearing with everything within a ten mile radius like the pirate's returning dread squadrons.

-oOo-

By the time William had again opened his eyes with a groan, a different voice was heard from the speakers.

The voice seemed to be feminine and was speaking in a somehow familiar language.

It had taken a while but our hero had finally figured out that the words were spoken in Japanese.

It was by this time that the voice had gotten angry with his non-existent reply and simply stopped transmitting altogether.

With some help from Zero, who had translated the earlier message to William, the Filipino then replied that he could not speak in Japanese and to give him a minute to think about it.

The given reply was quick and in English to boot. "Do not underestimate us, the women pirates of Mejeera. I suggest that you either surrender peacefully right now or regret it in the afterlife."

"Sorry, Zero. We'll make a break for it when we get that chance," William had told the AI while he had released the talk button.

To the dread pilots, he said. "Alright, I will surrender myself and my machine so long as no harm comes to either of us."

"You have some gall, telling us such things, filthy male. We will be giving the rules here and I say that you will be locked up with the rest of your kind in the dungeon." The voice, who seemed to be the leader of the squadron simply due to her sheer audacity to stand up to a giant mecha that could crush herself and her ship with its massive hands in minutes, had replied with seethed teeth.

"My apologies then, Miss. I will do as you say."

"Good, now follow us."

The four-dread fighter squadron led the gundum towards the useable flight decks in a strangely shaped ship's right dorsal side.

'Oh boy, taken hostage by four space age amazons. What the heck am I getting into?' William had thought with a grimace as Wing Zero was entering the massive and strangely shaped ship.

* * *

I congratulate you on reaching this part of the chapter, which means you have either skimmed the whole story or had ended up here by finishing it. Either way, congratulations.

The second chapter will then follow the ups and downs of our hero as he meets with fellow incarcerated males and even more females while getting used to the universe that he had gotten into.

Before I forget, the only thing I do own is William Zapanta as Wing Zero belongs to Bandai and the others belong to Gonzo and Media Factory.

So much for being a famous world saving super robot that cannot even own its favorite mecha and anime that it watches secretly from the Internet.

Now if you would excuse me, I have to take care of a Mycene that is threatening my current residence. Farewell for now.


	2. Awakenings

Hello and welcome to the second chapter of this undervalued story.

In this chapter, our hero had found himself to be a prisoner of war along with three other males and he would be forced to play along as much as he could to keep from being killed.

So onto the second chapter entitled...

* * *

Chapter 2 – **Awakenings**

After clambering out of Wing Zero's cockpit and slowly moving down by means of a prearranged raised platform, William Zapanta was escorted at gunpoint by four females to an unspecified part of the ship.

All of the said females were dressed in some sort of weird Halloween costume cum black space suit outlined with weird lines composed of squares inside the lines with a different color to its background and orange shaded face visors.

'Wow, these girls would win first prize in a Halloween costume party.' William had thought with a small smile as he had gone down the stairs.

The Filipino had also looked back at Wing Zero's slowly disappearing profile and had to marvel at the size and power of his ride as he walked towards the door on the other side of the massive space.

"You there, what are ya smiling about?" One of the guards said as she had prodded the prisoner with the pointed and slightly electrified tip of her lance. "Do you honestly think that you can get out of here? Like hell, you will."

"Easy there, I would think of no such thing. 'Sides, I want to learn more about this ship and the technology that you possess. And that lance hurts like hell too." The Filipino had answered while keeping his hands to his sides as he had looked around at his new surroundings.

The girls had only snorted in reply and then whispered to one another. The words geek and weak was heard more then once in the whispered exchange to William's dismay.

The newbie gundum pilot had noticed that most of the hallway was covered in a crystalline like substance thus making the walk through the said hall, both cumbersome and even dangerous in some places.

After walking for about half an hour, the group had arrived at small room that was covered with laser beams parallel to each other on one end.

Two young men were seen sitting or lying slumped on the wall opposite to the said barrier. The taller of the two was sitting quietly while the second seemed to having a nightmare as he had rolled around on the cell floor.

A strange and egg-shaped robot was rolling around the younger male's feet where his screen was snowy due to some sort of interference. William was shoved into the right side of the first man just before the beams were turned on for the third time.

The Filipino had turned around from his face's uncoordinated meeting with the steel bulkhead and sat up, glaring at the women while doing so.

"Now you men behave yourselves or you won't get out of here alive," The green haired leader of the troupe had said in a teasing tone as she left for parts unknown along with her subordinates.

The taller of the two men had looked up at the new arrival and asked his name in English as if he was a specimen not a stranger.

"Name's William Zapanta, what's yours?" came the short reply in the same language.

"I am Duero Mcfile," The tall man with black hair said as he had introduced himself while the youngest was finally waking up from his nightmare. "It is strange that I have not yet met a male with the clothes you are wear-"

"Hibiki Tokai, so what are ya in fer?" The youngest male with green hair had said without another thought with his left hand held out for a handshake. This time it was spoken in Japanese so Duero had to translate it to the puzzled newcomer.

The Filipino had smiled widely as he finally had some friends of a sort, even if the only things they have in common was their gender. He also shook Hibiki's hand and told him thanks.

"I know this would sound weird but I got here in a strange robot that I don't even know existed. How 'bout you guys?"

The other two's answers were stopped when they were hauled off by a group of women to yet another location by more females clothed in the same way as their abductors.

The fact that Hibiki said in fear (and translated by Duero with a straight face too) that the women would eat their innards not only amused the Filipino but it had also made him ask himself mentally on what the heck was wrong in this universe.

William was so out of it that he did not even see his new friend poke the backside of one of their guards until he had heard a powerful slap.

'Hibiki, you're going to need a lesson plan in manners just to get by in this ship.' William had thought with a snicker that he had hid with his hand as he averted his eyes from the young Taraakan's glare.

-oOo-

The three men were led to a bigger room with a rectangular table with chairs surrounding it in the center where they were then told to sit on the chairs by the women who were now wearing full body suits that had showed their curvaceous bodies well.

Hibiki was still outraged by the slap that he had gotten and was currently complaining about it to Duero and William. He had also pointedly ignored the words of wisdom coming from the little robot that had gone online while they were escorted to the room with Hibiki having carried it first before William had taken over.

Only the Duero had showed some sympathy to the teen since in the gundum pilot's mind, the young Taraakan was asking for it.

A third male had arrived followed by a tall girl with short light blue hair, the former was glad that he was not alone and said as much to the other males in Japanese, which William had correctly guessed by reading the blond's body language.

Then an old woman had arrived from yet another door to the surprise of the four men.

The old woman seemed to know much about males and females as the males could gather in her spoken words and had even given a short speech about the history of the ship they were in.

Since it was spoken in Japanese, the taller man again had played translator for the gundum pilot's part. This did not escape the notice of nearly all the occupants in the room.

It was after the speech that the old woman (called Boss by her subordinates) had been asked on what to do with the men.

The light blue haired girl had suggested (in English for William's sake) that the males be disposed of while the one called Boss had suggested that they make a meal out of the men instead. This had freaked out Hibiki since he did not know that the old lady was only joking as the third man had translated it to him with chattering teeth.

The interrogation had continued with Duero, who was revealed to be a medical doctor, and that Hibiki was caught trying to board another giant robot, making him an "attacker" along with William.

The sixteen year old Taraakan did complain about being called an attacker but was cut short by an elbow to his side by the blond man. The lone Filipino had kept silent as he tried to understand what was going on before speaking.

It was when a female voice from the loud speaker had told them about the incoming attack that things had gotten worse. The room itself had shuddered as if some of the enemies' attacks had hit the ship's outer armor near the room itself.

Part of the wall had also collapsed on one of their guards and Duero jumped over his seat to assist in giving the injured girl some first aid.

The blond (Bart Garsus) had made yet another speech about the males and females cooperating and mostly ignored in the process.

The lead pirate had agreed to everyone's surprise and had led Bart to the bridge while the one called BC (Buzam A. Calessa) had escorted both William and Hibiki to what would later be the hanger.

Along the way, Hibiki told Buzam that he was really a parts mechanic before the older woman had rebuked him and told him that as a man, he has to show proof of his existence.

She had also detached Hibiki's and William's cuff links in an effort to rub the proverbial salt into the former's emotional wounds while instructing the latter to run towards his machine as a sort of reward for being a good prisoner of war.

-oOo-

A few minutes later, Hibiki had caught up with William and they both rode their mechas. The young Taraakan had taken off first in his Vanguard, only to find himself in deep trouble fighting against four strange machines.

One time, Hibiki simply held his vanguard's right hand forward before getting blasted by all four enemies after thrusting it forward palm first.

It was by this time that Wing Zero had also launched and blasted the enemies in its way with the shoulder mounted machine cannons.

'He's hopeless,' a light blue haired pilot (who the head pirate had called Meia just before the meeting was cancelled), a sexy pilot with long blonde tresses, and William had thought at the same time upon seeing the disgraceful action of the Taraakan pilot.

A red headed pilot, on the other hand, was saying the "Mr. Alien" would be unharmed because of his awesome powers. A few groans could be heard in the tactical net in response.

After a little commotion in the cockpit, Wing Zero had also blasted two strange cube robots that were stupid enough to rush the now stationary gundum with its twin buster rifle.

The winged gundum then placed the said weapon underneath the shield on its left arm until it had locked into place and drew its beam sabre out of its shoulder sheath to compensate for the holstered rifle-like weapon.

The massive machine then charged at the other cube like enemies that were firing on the evading gundum.

Hibiki had also gotten the same idea as the Vanguard drew its own sword from its back sheath and slashed one, two, then three enemy cubes before jetting towards the strange walnut like object chasing the now mobile star ship.

The other three fighters had also joined in with the red head in the lead.

Just before the Vanguard had reached its target, it was blocked by four cubes that a dark blue dread had quickly blown away with its missiles.

Then some weird brown lines made of unknown elastic and durable material had reached out to both mechas and prevented them from moving by entangling them. The said machines were quickly been blown to bits as soon as they are immobile.

In the new warship's bridge, both Boss and BC could not believe that their one of their new saviors as well as their pilots had been lost.

Back in space, William was angry enough to have Zero draw the twin buster rifle once again and put a new hole in the enemy ship when something big had emerged from the flames.

That something was a robot a little bigger than Zero's own size with two large pods on its back that had sparkled with energy.

The two pods had moved themselves to the robot's equally massive shoulders before firing two yellow beams.

The beams had broken straight through the enemy's skin and came out on the other side, before the enemy itself had exploded like a grapefruit shot by a .22 caliber rifle.

"My, my. It would seem that we have a rival on our hands, William." Zero's voice had carried a bit of sarcasm in it.

"Maybe so, but how the hell did that even happen?" William said half to himself as the new machine's silhouette was seen from the fireball that had consumed the alien craft.

William then guided Wing Zero closer to the new mecha so he could congratulate his new friend and maybe even get the gundum's AI to scan the new robot along the way.

-oOo-

Sometime later, Bart had made a huge mistake by asking for something to cool them off.

The women had responded by blasting their nearly naked bodies with cold water from two fire hoses in an undisclosed location.

Only Duero had remained calm in the "cooling off" period since Bart was constantly screaming and moving around while both William and Hibiki simply squirmed around so as not get too much water from the hoses' powerful spray.

When they had gotten back to their cell, Hibiki later fell asleep while William and Duero thought individually about what had brought them to this place.

It was only after an hour when the teen had woken up with the tallest teen above him. It had resulted in an argument that stopped when BC came over and escorted Bart to the bridge.

Ten minutes later, it was Duero's turn to be escorted out of the shared cell.

Something about medical emergencies was the only thing that the remaining two prisoners had heard from the hallway.

-oOo-

An hour passed by quickly since both Hibiki and William had exchanged stories that neither one would not want out in the open.

This was done even with the fact that the Taraakan had difficulty speaking in English while William had difficulty understanding and speaking Japanese.

The gundum pilot had slowly learned about Hibiki's sad past in the desolate farm with little to eat, his exodus to the city, and finally the dare that had led him to the present.

At the same time, Hibiki had learned from William about the earthquake that had brought the latter teen to this universe and of his earlier shakedown with Wing Zero as well as his life before the incident.

William then cheered the Tarakaan up by telling him that the latter had learned enough from his experiences to be a good mechanic and even asked for his help in the possible maintenance of the gundum after they part ways with the women.

It was by that time that both William and Hibiki were sent to pick up two of their crew in the abandoned enemy ship that both Hibiki and a girl named Dita Libely (the red head that was chasing the Taraakan when the Ikazuki was attacked) had destroyed earlier.

Both young men had dressed quickly before running out of the cell as fast as they could.

To speed things up, as soon as both the yellow Vanguard and blue and white Wing Zero had gotten out of the nebula, the latter machine had transformed to its Neo Bird mode.

The yellow robot had hitched on the transformed gundum's back while clutching on the small vertical stabilizers just behind its machine gun nests.

Neither one had expected the laser blast that came from in front of them but Zero did dive quickly before the said blast could hit them.

It was about that time that they had found the blue dread (Dita's) that was on a collision course with them with some cubes ( the enemy craft that they had fought before) hot on her trail.

"Hibiki, we gotta separate before we do get hit by that runaway fighter. I'll handle the small fry while you get that dread," William said while ignoring Hibiki's complaints about him getting the hard jobs. At least that was what the gundum pilot had thought the other pilot was saying.

The winged gundum had zoomed off before playing tag with the enemy mecha that were chasing Dita awhile ago with its Vulcan machine guns hidden in its wings.

After beating off the last enemy, William had looked back at the newly formed Vandread.

"Whoa, since when did you guys ever get to form this mecha?" William was rubbing his brown eyes while saying this. "And are you, Dita Libely?"

An image in the left part of the main screen past the sphere had showed both pilots in a somewhat compromising position with the red head sitting on Hibiki's lap.

"What the hell is a mecha anyway and I don't even know how this happened, it just does when both of us are near to each other," was the Vandread pilot's answer in garbled English.

"Mr. Alien, please don't be mad. He's only asking a question to us," Dita said in Japanese as she had turned to the now blushing teen.

Turning to the Filipino pilot, she then added in perfect English. "Yes, I am Dita. Who are you?"

"Sorry, a mecha is an advanced war machine like your new robot and Wing Zero." William replied somberly, but having some trouble in keeping himself from chuckling at the image in the Vandread's cockpit. "As for me, I'm William Zapanta."

"Umm, excuse me but we have to go rescue Miss Gasco." Dita said in English since she was really worried about the elder Register of the pirates and she knew William did not speak Japanese… yet.

Her left eyebrow did rise at image of the older man that was shown in her ship's canopy who was trying his best not to laugh for some reason.

"I hear ya, girl." William replied as the gundum had jetted off towards the wreckage ahead with the Vandread right behind it. "Let's go, 'Mr. Alien'."

"Not funny, Zapanta!" This time, it was spoken in perfect English for some strange reason.

-oOo-

"Guess it's my turn, huh?" Gascogne Reinghau was saying before two huge metal shod fists had punched through the wall of the wreck surrounding her.

One of the fists had gotten hold of the large thing in front of her while the second had grabbed her from her prison.

"About time, you guys arrived. I was 'bout to become that guy's lunch," The registrar had quipped in English as she had moved her head in the crushed machine to her right.

"Blame Bart for this one, speakin' of which, we haveta get back to the ship." William said as he had opened the cockpit hatch where Gascogne let herself in.

Thankfully, the inside of the still broken craft had a sort of atmosphere thus both humans could still breathe.

"I read you, jus' keep your hands on the throttle and stick if you wanna have somethin' down there remain attached to ya." The elder woman said as she had settled herself in the blushing pilot's lap and strapped herself to the seat. "Alright, let's go."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I think she's got you there, huh?" Hibiki's smirking face was again seen in the little image to the screen's right.

Even though he did not understand all what the Vandread pilot had said, William had gotten the gist of it anyway.

"Yeah, yeah. Got the joke, funny as hell." The older teen had replied monotonously as he again triggered the change to Neo Bird mode.

The two giant mechas had sped towards their home as fast as they possibly could, even if it meant blasting through some space ice in the nebula itself.

Even then, a few space glaciers had collided with the mechas' armor that had caused some minor damages in some parts of the said war machines' bodies.

Soon the two mechas had found the ship that was about to collide with a huge floating glacier.

Both Vandread Dita and Wing Zero had blasted it to pieces with their shoulder cannons and twin buster rifle respectively before Dita had secured a line to the bridge.

"Are you guys, alright?" she had asked to a gawking crew. It took a lot of effort for the pilots not to make their mechas do a double face plant in space at given gaffe.

Gascogne had also made an effort not to make her palm hit her forehead to Dita's confusion.

-oOo-

After everyone had returned to the ship, Boss then made a risky announcement. She had told everyone that the aliens they had defeated have now considered them as their enemies for meddling in their master plans.

More than that, they seemed to have targeted both Mejeera and Taraak.

So she had decided that they would need new allies in their journey back to both planets to alert the said planets to the incoming danger. Their new allies would be the men that had joined them since the ill fated raid on the men's battleship.

Back in the hold where both Hibiki and William were talking, the former had asked if they would ever get home even with the female's help.

"I'm not sure, Hibiki." The gundum pilot replied with his head facing downward. "We can only hope that we do, since it'll be quite an object lesson for the four of us in dealing with the ladies from this moment on."

"Hey, with you as my teacher in dealing with them, what can actually go wrong?" The younger teen said with a wide grin.

The older teen had only smiled meekly in response as his thoughts was set on learning everything he needs to know especially how to pilot Zero to its maximum potential as well as how to speak in Japanese fluently.

* * *

Well, here is another chapter done with more of the Vandread cast being introduced. The males sure have their work cut out for them.

The next chapter would be dealing with daily life in between battles within the new pirate warship and maybe even give a few surprises too.

In the meantime, another Mycene seemed to have wandered to the city where I am currently residing and is needed to be shown the door. (cracks knuckle joints)


	3. Another Day, Another Dollar

I see that you are still reading this undervalued story. Very well, this one is where William Zapanta and the other males are proving their worth to the Majeerian pirates and may even get to know more of the young crew.

Wing Zero itself would be getting an needed mechanical upgrade to be more useful in the battlefield while his pilot would slowly but surely get his own social upgrade to be a better crew member.

With that said, let us continue this story with this chapter simply named...

* * *

Chapter 3 – **Another Day, Another Dollar**

After a good night sleep, Hibiki had requested his present guards that he had to go to the little boy's room while William had asked for an escort towards the engineering room.

While the Filipino pilot was busy studying some diagrams for the whole and still unnamed ship, he and the female engineers had heard a loud banging on the door.

William had a hard time assuring the female engineering crew that he could not sabotage the whole ship since he was having an equally hard time even understanding the descriptions that seemed to be written in Greek to him.

The written instructions that were stapled together and filed neatly would have just been cat scratches in the baffled gundum pilot's eyes.

Hibiki had quickly come inside the room and hid behind his confused friend as soon as the door had slid open.

Oddly enough, a familiar girl's cry of "Mr. Alien" was heard in the hallway beyond the door just as it was sliding to a close.

After setting the book bounded diagrams down on the table to his left with a sigh, William had asked the younger pilot what had happened.

"It's that crazy red headed chick again, this time she's lookin' at me while I was taking a loo." Hibiki replied while glaring at the two girls who had found his predicament to be funny.

"Ok, that was a little too much info." William then turned to the two engineers with a puzzled expression. "Is there something 'bout us that needs to be examined in that way?"

"Now that you mention it, we have heard of a rumor that you men have some sort of tube between your legs." The girl with the short dark brown hair said while cocking her head at the two blushing males.

"Ok, that…is actually…um, true since it is necessary for us for two reasons…" William had trailed off since three pairs of eyes were now looking at him strangely.

Thankfully, the alarm had sounded so William immediately ran out of the door with Hibiki hot on his heels.

Both females could only gawk at the sight before shrugging their shoulders and going back to their duties.

Both male pilots had raced towards the shared hanger where both Wing Zero and the Vanguard were parked, by passing a surprised Dita along the way.

She had only had time to ask where "Mr. Alien and his friend" were going when the hatch leading to the refurbished hanger had closed on her.

Thanks to his smaller and lighter stature, the Tarakaan had reached his machine first and took off immediately. William was too tired from running to even try to fly Zero.

So he had simply gone inside his machine just as the Vanguard was powering up and watched the fight outside from the safety of the gundum's cockpit.

-oOo-

When the four pilots had returned from their sortie, William was unable to come in between his friend and the blue haired pilot that the other girl – Dita had called Leader without being ignored anyway.

The other girl, Jura, had already left as soon as she deplaned.

He did join the two women on their way to the bridge though since Hibiki really wanted something to prove himself with before separating once again.

They had asked the Boss, who they realized was really named Magno Vivan, on where could they be reassigned since Hibiki could not take orders from the dread squadron leader.

"Well, we'll put you kids in the Reg crew since it suits ya guys more." The old leader of the pirates said with a sinister smirk.

"Alright, anywhere except near that loudmouth girl with the eye patch and the crazy red head." Hibiki had said with exasperation, not getting the older woman's body language.

"Oh you mean, Meia and Dita. Of course, young 'un. They'll be as far away from you as possible." The old lady then sent them away with a wave of her wrinkled hand.

-oOo-

"Reg crew, don't tell that it's really th-" William was rendered speechless when the metallic door had slid open and both young men saw six young women around their age sitting behind two counters that were facing each other. The girls were wearing aprons over their maid uniforms.

"Well, well, well. Look who's here." A familiar voice came from the door behind the left counter. To the male's shock, it was Gasco-oops, Gascogne who had spoken up earlier.

After sizing up the two volunteers, she had the younger pilot put on one of the Registry girl's spare uniforms. The slightly older one would not have fit the uniform anyway.

Hibiki did look ridiculous while reciting an order to be given – a kamikaze special to be exact.

William had to laugh while looking away at the sight of his young friend. Hibiki was wearing on what seemed to be a maid's uniform complete with an white apron and fake boobs on his chest.

In addition, he was reciting a job order with a hidden joke that only the young women, Gascogne, and William himself could actually understand.

Too bad for the lone gundum pilot, the Registry boss had seen through his innocent act.

"What's so funny, Zapanta? Ya figured out my joke since I was told that ya love ancient history."

The gundum pilot had stopped laughing immediately while Hibiki threw down the ball he was carrying in his left hand in his rage.

"Alright, I'll admit that I got the joke." William replied with a heavy sigh.

Turning to his younger friend, he then added. "Hibiki, that order you were sayin' a while ago was for a suicide run. A one way trip to hell, actually."

"Oh," Hibiki said quietly.

Turning to the amused superior, he added. "Then, what the heck was that for, ya old hag!"

"Watch it, little boy or I'll remove somethin' down there that is of vital importance ta ya." Gascogne shot back which led to both males putting their gloved hands over their family jewels to the Registry crews' amusement.

After seeing that these two volunteers would only bring more harm than good to the Registy itself, Gascogne led both of them to the armory.

Along the way, the Tarakaan teen had complained that he just got back to where he started.

It was then that Reg chief had told them about Mejare while showing them a 3-D holographic image of the planet and its colonies. She had told them about the myth that in Mejere where everyone is nice to each other when in truth it is still just a myth.

In reality, they are just as competitive as the men if not more.

When one of the planet's generators had conked out due to too much demand, some of the women had enough of the given bullshit and formed an organization of their own.

This was around the time when their colony was powered down to make up for the other colonies' spiked up requirements. That organization was the pirates of the present day.

The visitors did not have that much time to be familiar with their surroundings when another alien ship had attacked their own.

After strapping both males in their seats to observe the battle and see how calm and collected the Registry girls are in doing their jobs, Gascogne then led them to a delivery ship so "both boys could learn how stage hands really shine on stage" as the Reg boss had told the teens.

-oOo-

The flight in space was chaotic since the supply ship had to avoid space debris, missile, and ramming attacks by the enemy ship.

The supply ship itself was nearly gutted by the enemy one time; thankfully, its shield has held enough to keep the ship intact.

Four dreads belonging to Dita, Jura Basil Elden, Barnette Orangello, and Meia Gisborn had docked in the supply ship for needed re-arming.

After being re-armed, one of them had remarked "I'm so full" causing the gundum pilot to blush a little. His younger friend had asked him why only to be told that it is a secret.

It was then that Hibiki had noticed the remaining two boxes with one of them a little heavier than all the rest put together.

He had pointed this out to the Registrar boss who simply replied. "Well, we can't take 'em back anymore since we already delivered 'em all the way here."

Gascogne then led them to a sort of entrance way to the boxes themselves. The boxes had later opened to reveal the newly re-fueled and re-armed Vanguard and Wing Zero.

"Hey William, let's show the boss how we 'stage hands' can fight." Hibiki said with glee as the Vanguard had taken off.

"You got it," replied William as his gundum had also taken off from the other container. The sudden loss of ten tons had rocked the supply ship a bit if not for the skill of its pilot.

Zero had scooped up some of the escape pods in the battle field before returning them to Gascogne.

After doing his good deed of the day, William and Zero had helped out by firing some twin buster rifle beam salvos at the enemy.

The Filipino was actually careful enough to shoot only when no other dread was in range.

The fired plasma beams had evaporated a good number of the enemy's spines only for the said enemy to counter attack with the remaining spines and regenerate a few more.

This was why Zero was hit by a glancing blow in the forearms when the Vanguard and Meia's Dread had merged to something resembling a metal bird.

Pretty much everyone was impressed except for the enemy ship that had chased the newly formed Vandread.

It had again fired its spines on where the Vandread was supposed to be only to hit empty space instead.

Vandread Meia had finished it off with its signature high speed ramming technique, through the enemy's center.

After the battle and landing in the warship – now called the Nirvana, William then half-carried the exhausted Hibiki back to their new quarters.

-oOo-

Bart had tried to feed his younger friend with some food capsules only to be intercepted by the newly arrived Dita who had flicked the items away. William did help himself to one or two of the remaining capsules though, thinking that no one would have noticed him anyway.

'Ugh, tastes like medicine. Good thing, I'm not an astronaut or a Taraakan to eat this stuff thrice a day for god knows how long.' The gundum pilot had thought with a grimace, not knowing that Duero was studying his reactions to the eaten capsules.

It was then that he noted that Dita had given Hibiki some real food as a bribe for always "uniting" with her.

Erasing the perverted thoughts brought about by that single spoken line, the Filipino was not surprised to hear Hibiki say yes automatically to everyone (except Dita's) surprise.

'Oh well, I'm sure he doesn't understand it besides I kinda doubt he can even do it willingly…yet.' William thought as he had watched his younger friend lick the plate clean. 'Hibiki, ol' buddy, ya just made for yourself a girlfriend and you don't even know it yet.'

-oOo-

The following day had found our heroes doing some maintenance to their respective machines. Since William was still a newbie to robot mechanics, both Zero and Hibiki were giving tips to make his job better.

It had taken a few tries but the Filipino pilot finally was able to fix some shorted wires, and calibrate some of the fuel systems without blowing himself and the Nirvana up in the process.

By the time Hibiki had returned to his station to do some follow up work on his machine, Dita had snuck up on him and even gave him a flying kiss. The show of affection did shock the brunet teen so much that he fell to the platform itself.

The girl had quickly approached the poor boy, which had the unfortunate effect of Hibiki looking up the girl's skirt and gulping loudly in response.

Zero had alerted his pilot seeing that the other teen was still lying on the platform floor.

"Um, Dita. Could ya help me carry Hibiki towards the infirmary?" William said as he was running down the stairs from his platform towards where the other two teens are.

"Sure, I'd love to."

Together, they had brought the blushing Hibiki to the ship's infirmary where Duero was waiting for them.

-oOo-

In the meantime, Magno and BC were talking about an exploration of the desert planet where the Nirvana was about to pass by.

Magno was a little worried about how a desert planet could actually exist where terra forming was the rage among inter-stellar travelers of the past decades.

"I'm not worried about you going there, BC but of who would be going with you." The old pirate- Magno stated in a matter of fact way.

"Boss, we have some vanguards left over from the 'newer' parts of the ship and have already gotten some training programs for our pilots to practice on." BC said in the hopes of bringing a smile to the older woman. "Also, William and Wing Zero will also joining us since Zero is bipedal itself."

The 104 year old woman had straightened herself since their second ace in the hole would be of great help to the landing party.

"Alright, get those boys to join your party and meet me at the bridge. I'm sure both of them would like to step on solid ground again."

"Thank you, Boss." BC said with a crisp salute before turning around and leaving her superior's quarters.

"Pinning our hopes on two kids with strange yet powerful machines, life is getting interesting." Magno said to herself before returning to the bridge.

-oOo-

Standing near the infirmary's door, William was keeping his mind busy by turning over in his mind all that Zero and Hibiki had taught him in fixing the former's circuitry.

The gundum pilot had wished that he had taken Electrical Engineering or even simple Electronics or Aircraft Mechanics to get some sort of practice at what he was doing now.

Before William could lose himself in his thoughts, a flash of light had followed by a slight tap on his side had startled him.

Looking around, he had found the youngest member of the pirate crew – Paiway Underberg standing right beside him.

"What is it, Paiway?" The Filipino said simply as he could not just yell at the child-nurse who he had already met before when he had gotten his physical examination.

"What are you doing here-kero?" she asked while holding a ledger and a pen. Given the differences in height, the nurse had to look up at her interviewee.

From what the Filipino could see in her narrowed eyes, she was suspicious of his actions in the Nirvana's brightly lit hallway.

"Waitin' for Hibiki to finish his check up, that's what. He asked me to wait for 'im since we haven't finished our repairs to our machines yet," was the given reply.

"Oh…see ya-kero," The eleven year old said as she had made her way in the infirmary.

"Crazy kid," William said as he had shaken his head and continued his musings.

-oOo-

Along the way to the hanger, the Taraakan teen had asked his older friend on what is a spa and how could it cure illness.

Coming to a complete stop, William had to shake whatever perverted thoughts that ran through his head before answering.

"A Jacuzzi is kinda like a small manmade pool of water that is very hot. It also had jets of air underwater that acts like a massage. The only illness it can cure is fatigue, other than that your guess is as good as mine."

"Hmm, maybe we should get to the spa since we get tired too." Hibiki said aloud.

"Maybe, but I'd rather it be kept women-proof. Who knows what would happen if some women come to our side of the spa by mistake."

Both teens had shuddered involuntarily when they imagined Dita or another woman entering the spa and finding them in states of undress.

As they were about to enter the hanger, the two young men had seen BC leaning on the door leading to it.

"Hello boys. I have another mission with you two in mind," She said as sweetly as she could.

With mental groans, both teens had followed the pirate's second in command to the bridge.

-oOo-

At the bridge, BC and Magno had explained that both mecha pilots would join the landing party.

Hibiki was about to overreact to the suggestion when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He had looked up to see William shake his head in dismay.

The older teen then said that he was alright with idea but the other members of the party would have to act as back up to both of them.

"May I ask why?" BC's left eyebrow was raised in a questioning manner as she spoke.

"That's because we're the only ones with enough experience wit' the robots. And that means, we're the only ones who can fight effectively when trouble does show its ugly face," William said hotly in reply.

"Hold it, you two. William does have a good point. Quite a rarity with males in this day and age though," Magno said as she had finally put her foot down.

"Sorry Boss." Both BC and William said at the same time. The latter was ignoring the hidden insult while Hibiki silently counted to ten.

"Alright Grandma, I'll join yer stupid party." Hibiki had finally had spoken up. "Let's go get our machines ready, Will."

"Alright, see ya Boss, BC." William said as he and the Vanguard pilot had left the bridge.

-oOo-

Along their way to the hanger deck, both teens had met both Meia and Dita. Both young women were on their way out at the time.

The dread squadron leader did not even give them a second glance while the red headed dread pilot had offered some steak for the Vanguard pilot.

"Um, Dita was it?" Hibiki was actually gulping as she nodded. "Maybe you could get two more so all three of us could eat together."

"I'm not hungry right now, Mr. Alien. I can get a second plate for William though," was the girl's nodding reply.

"Nah, have fun you two. I'll just practice fixing Zero for the meantime," The older pilot said with a wave of his right hand.

William had continued his way to the hanger, ignoring his friend's pleas to join him and the girl to eat.

Yhe Filipino pilot had even said over his shoulder. "C'mon Hibiki, It's not everyday that someone gives you food. See ya later."

-oOo-

In the ship's rear hanger, William then met Bart who was studying a pilot's manual for Vanguards. He had let the poor blond alone as he headed for his docked machine.

There was some activity in the area where his machine is located though as a girl about his age was directing some sort of modifications to the gundum.

As soon as he neared the giant machine, William had asked the shorter brunette girl with double pigtails on what is going on.

The girl had looked down at the pilot and said: "Oh, there you are. I was dinking around in your machine and found out its AI by accident."

"Ok, so what are you adding to Wing Zero?" The confused Filipino asked as he had noticed some neo-titanium disks about a foot thick and thrice as long in diameter being placed on the front and back shoulder armors of the gundum while climbing the ladder towards his machine.

"These are planet defenders, according to the Zero." The girl replied with a huge smile. "He also gave us some digital blueprints to reproduce it along with some gun-something on the condition that it would be installed to his body."

"Guess, I haveta head to the gym now." William said as he had slowly gotten down to the floor and headed out of the hanger.

"Wait, could we meet at the bench in the indoor park nearest the door after an hour? I wanted to know more about your machine and how it ticks," The girl said in a panic as she had leaned on the railings. "Name's Balblair, Parfeit Balblair."

"William Zapanta," William said as soon as the sliding doors had closed. "Sure, I'll be there. I'll jus' ask around for directions."

After a few seconds, William's face was again seen as he said. "Oh, and nice introduction there, James Bond would have been proud of you."

Thankfully for the now blushing Parfeit, Paiway was in the park. The little girl reporter and nurse was doing a Pai-check on Hibiki and Dita at the time.

-oOo-

Later in the day, William was waiting at the said bench for a half an hour when the call for the expeditionary force to head out was sent through the speakers throughout the ship.

The gundum pilot had cursed his luck as he had nothing to write on that he could leave for Parfeit as he ran past the door towards the hanger.

By the time he arrived, the team composed of the elite pilots – Barnette, Dita, and Jura were there along with Hibiki.

Strangely enough, both a green haired young woman (Barnette) and a blonde (Jura) seemed to fuming about something, while his friend looked like he just had a run in with two Ditas with plates of food on their hands.

Meia was also missing, which was even much odder in a sense since she is the elite of the elite in terms of piloting, and that she is always involved in every sortie.

The gundum pilot did not voice his concerns though as he headed for the platform and into his gundum.

-oOo-

Once out of the Nirvana, Wing Zero had transformed into Neo Bird mode both to catch up with the others since they had already increased their flight speed as well as making his atmospheric entry much easier according to the gundum's AI.

Listening to the tactical network, he could clearly hear the females squabbling with each other until Hibiki had told them to shut up. It was about that time that the squad was entering the desert planet's atmosphere.

The vanguards had opened their re-entry shields as the female's vanguards' drop ships disintegrated. The said shields look more like steel umbrellas than shields.

As for the lone gundum, it had entered belly first. Only Barnette's vanguard had landed gracefully while the others either fell in face first or on their backs.

Zero had to use its foot thrusters, right after it had transformed back to mobile suit mode, just to ensure a two legged landing itself but the cloud of dust that the gundum had made in its descent had everyone looking angrily at him.

"Sorry 'bout that," William said in the airwaves.

"This is no time ta be fooling around," Barnette said in a perturbed tone.

Her earlier plan that involved Tabasco sauce in Hibiki's steak had already back fired and she did not need anymore headaches in this mission.

"Got it, commander." William said in a careful manner. "I'll check those buildings over there."

Wing Zero was about to touch the building's wall when its pilot had again heard yet another argument in the tactical net. Again, Hibiki had to say shut up before jetting to the blue sky.

That was when all hell broke loose.

-oOo-

Back in the Nirvana, the bridge was monitoring the vital signs of the landing party.

Both Belvedere Coco (a blonde girl with wavy hair) and Duero had noticed that the pilots' heart rates had increased significantly, a sign of anxiety or distress.

This had Magno open the communication channels to the landing party.

BC was talking to the pilots about what had happened. She had learned from Belvedere and the pilots that a laser barrier was triggered and that the sand was attacking them.

Apart from panicked transmissions from all of the landing party, the Pirate's second in command had not learned much of what was really happening on the planet's sandy surface.

Also Meia had tried to make contact with her team but her transmission was only heard at the Nirvana's bridge. She was already on her assigned vanguard when she was transmitting the message.

This had made Duero comment to himself that the Dread leader was still pushing herself.

-oOo-

Back at the landing point, everyone was having trouble with the brown sand that seemed to be engulfing them.

Barnette was already out of action with Dita and Jura trying to help Hibiki.

William was already trying his hardest to get the stuff off the gundum's alloyed skin only to fail miserably.

"Any ideas on how to take this damn stuff off, Zero?" The Filipino asked as he had strained to keep his gloved hands on both HOTAS, while ignoring the growing numbness and pain from his hands and fingers. "Barnette, are you ok?"

The answer was immediate as it was panicky. "Yeah, but I can't see anything on my scanners now."

Zero had interrupted the com link for a brief second as it had an idea. "Tell her to use visuals. The girl engineer had also given me an electronic copy of the Vanguard's specifications and I think the detection systems are being jammed by the sand."

"So why aren't you affected then?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe since my systems are more guarded or complex than even I would have thought," Zero answered as William had opened the line again.

"Barnette, try using visuals and let's head somewhere else like a little farther from here." William said quickly as the sand was expanding on Zero's body, preventing some movement.

"Will do, I'll call the rest so you can move yourself as well." came the reply.

It was by then that Jura had taken care off the sand by using her vanguard's air intakes in reverse flow.

-oOo-

The sand had somehow came off easily as the group began to move farther from the landing site.

But their troubles were not over as some sort of sand figures in the shape of vanguards had attacked them.

The group sans Barnette was engaging the sand mecha hand to hand. Zero had even used its shield to plow its way forward.

Thankfully, the shield's nose has a pile driving ability so it was able to puncture the sand mecha in its way.

The four mechas had finally formed a square formation to defend themselves from all sides when yet another sand man showed up from Hibiki's side.

They were about to attack it when Barnette's vanguard had showed up beside it and its pilot had told them that it was Meia's vanguard and that the sand had taken control of it.

Adding to their troubles was the communication from the bridge that the self-detonation device of the trap had been activated and that they had 300 seconds or five minutes to get out.

The yellow Vanguard had tackled the newly arrived one and tried its best to take the sand of its superstructure when its pilot had an idea.

"William, put a hole in that building over there." The Vanguard's composite digits were pointing at the cylindrical shaped building near where they were.

William had simply nodded in response. Wing Zero then jetted up and punctured the said structure with its shield's pile driving nose, making a large hole in the said building, and causing nitrogen gas to seep out of it.

The gas was enough to cool down the temperature to the point that the sand would lose its hold on itself.

After Hibiki had the pulled the fallen vanguard out of the ground, the team had taken off into space as explosions had erupted behind them.

-oOo-

Back at the bridge, the crew had learned that the enemy was harvesting them for their body parts as the data that they learned was about blood cells detailed as crops.

It was the only time that Magno had felt real anger as the pirates had learned that their enemy was formidable as well as evil.

-oOo-

In the vanguard hanger, the pilots were lying on what ever they could lie on. Meia was already looking at her saviors in disgust as if it was a disgrace to be saved by them.

William, on the other hand, was thinking on what their enemy was actually planning so as to prepare such an elaborate and deadly trap for them.

He had made a mental note to ask BC about it after taking a well deserved nap on the platform floor.

* * *

I can guess that you are very upset with how evil the enemies could really be. There is a reason for that and I would give it to you piece by piece as you read this story along.

(sees another Mycene attack in his city of residence) I think I'll destroy Marshall Inferno's lair after I dispose of this guy. Do wish me luck and I will see you once again in the next chapter.


	4. Situation Normal, All Fouled Up

Welcome to the fourth chapter of this undervalued story. Honestly, I was looking for constructive criticisms for this one so fire away.

As a newcomer, who is patient and willing to learn the ropes, I will not flame those who give me good advice as I do need it badly.

I am sure someone would notice the (in)famous military acronym in the chapter title so believe me when I say that this was bowdlerized to keep this story in this site and the original acronym is the real title of this little piece.

With that said, let us now continue with this chapter that is appropriately titled...

* * *

Chapter 4 – **Situation Normal, All Fouled Up**

The situation could have not have been worse for the pirates of Mejeera. For one thing, their enemy was much tougher then those they had already defeated.

Secondly, the chain of command was broken by Meia's impulsive decision to tangle with the enemy mother ship with little back up.

The blue haired flight leader was already being wheeled to the emergency room, flanked by both Dita and Hibiki.

Jura was left outside to take command of the Dreads while William was harassing the mother ship with ranged fire while also being harassed by the enemy fighters.

"Damn it," William cursed loudly as he had to hold off shooting his machine's shoulder cannons on the enemy cubes since another pair of dreads had come across the line of fire.

Wing Zero was instead hit by the numerous laser beams from the mother ship and its numerous fighters, half of the beams were reflected off the newly activated planetary defense system's plasma shield.

"Zero, are ya still alright? I'm ready to throw in the towel fer a while so we can have your outer armor fixed."

"I am still able to fight, William." Zero answered in his monotone voice. "Right now, since we are still out maneuvered by the enemy. I would suggest that you use the ZERO System."

"You're kidding, right?" William was saying as he had finally got a lock on the bunched up enemy ships and pulled the trigger once. The conjoined twin buster rifle salvo was enough to reduce the enemy fighters to a more manageable number.

Wing Zero had already told its pilot the dangers of the advanced combat system once before when the Filipino was examining his cockpit.

The AI then added that it was only be used in an emergency.

"I am not," was said on the speakers. "But I advise extreme caution as it may make you lose control of your mind."

"Right now, I'd rather take that chance since Jura is making a mess of the attacking order here." William was saying as he had moved the levers in a frantic manner.

Outside, the beam saber was drawn as it had slashed the incoming new fighters.

"Alright, type the letters – Z, E, R, and O in the keyboard to your left."

As soon as the Filipino pilot had typed the said letters, the spherical screen lit up in blue light. In his mind, he could see the future or what would be the outcome of his next course of action.

From then on, Wing Zero had again activated its twin boosters as it slashed and shot wave after wave of the enemy fighters, ignoring the dreads that were almost destroyed themselves in the crossfire.

But something happened ten minutes into the battle; the giant winged machine had gone crazy as it had slashed at the mother ship only to be hit by numerous laser beams from all directions of the compass.

Zero then drew its main gun and blasted the ship repeatedly, missing every time or just hitting one of its decoys.

A few beams had actually hit the Nirvana's port fin like attachment and also nearly destroyed a few dreads along with its surprised pilots.

Luckily for the pirates, the numerous asteroids had kept them from being in the beam's destructive path and the space rocks were vaporized instead. This had resulted in much fewer casualties than what would have been.

The new arrived Vanguard had to combine with Dita's dread just to tangle with the berserker gundum.

The Vandread had drawn first blood by using its massive fist to punch the surprised gundum and its pilot in the former's face. Wing Zero had retaliated by using its pile driver in its shield to puncture the Vandread's right arm.

The gundum then reversed course as it had swung its signature weapon at the blue giant.

Vandread Dita then had its shoulder cannons ready before firing a single salvo at the gundum. Wing Zero had dodged the yellow beams and fired its own salvo with his machine's weapon in beam cannon mode.

It was through a slight miscalculation of the Filipino pilot that had saved the Vandread's occupants from a fiery death.

The fired wide beam of plasma had hit instead two tight flights of cubes while grazing the left arm of the Vandread, both of which were grouped together for protection against the berserker, the slightly widened blue beam obliterating them completely.

It was around this time that Dita's teary voice had finally gotten through William's heart, waking him from his berserker state.

The winged gundum had stopped its relentless beam saber attack and William apologized for his actions through the radio.

It was also when enemy mother ship and its surviving cube fighters had attacked them to avenge their fallen comrades.

Both Vandread Dita and Wing Zero had double teamed the enemy ship with various double salvos and sword slashes before hitting the massive disc-like ship at point blank range with their energy weapons.

The ship was blown to nothingness in the asteroid field, its explosion taking along plenty of the planetary debris and its own fighters with it.

-oOo-

Back at the debriefing room an hour later, William had again apologized profusely as he shed some tears at the near death of his fellow pilots as well as those pirates stationed in the Nirvana's port side.

"I-I h-had to d-do it guys since I w-was under the impression of the ZERO system." He said in his explanation of his actions. "I lost control easily since I'm still weak. I promise that I will try harder to become a better pilot so when this shit happens again, I can finally handle that system on my own will. Again, I'm really really sorry."

After saying those words, William had bowed slightly before running out the sliding door in tears. His actions had left behind a surprised group that later received the fully recovered Meia.

-oOo-

In Zero's cockpit, a crying William sat with his chin on his knees.

Zero had tried to reason with him but the young man had simply cried all the more as he felt disgust for nearly killing some of the pilots in the already small crew of the Nirvana.

"Zero, after I cry myself to sleep and wake up, teach me on how to control the system." The teen said through his sobbing. "I wish to be stronger, not so much as I can show everyone up, but rather to be of use to them, to protect them since they're the only ones I have left."

The AI had kept his peace as his pilot had continued sobbing and venting his hatred at the enemy before his brown eyes slowly shut for the remainder of the day.

-oOo-

An hour later, the cockpit hatch had hissed its reluctance to open itself to the outside world. Through the opening, Hibiki and some of the pilots had peeked in at their slumbering friend.

They had finished the party earlier and wanted to bring some of the food to the crying gundum pilot. William was thrashing around as if he had tried to escape the light that had bothered his slumber.

His cheeks were still wet with tears that he did not bother to wipe away, such was his sorrow and anger at himself.

In a near whisper, Meia had told the gundum pilot. "You're not alone, William. You're not alone."

-oOo-

The next day, Hibiki was continuously being hunted by Dita in the ship's hallways.

In the meantime, William had asked for permission from Magno and BC to use the simulation room to further hone his piloting skills.

The gundum pilot had never left the module except to eat just outside the module itself (he had asked Bart to send him his food in exchange for some advice on women), to exercise in the gym on Duero's orders, or when the simulation was stopped by the doctor himself.

William had actually slept in the module rather than face his friends in their shared room.

The Taraakan doctor had personally undertaken the monitoring of the simulation training in fear that his older friend may follow the dread leader's footsteps in pushing himself too hard just to right a potential wrong.

"Duero, I'm not pushing myself." The Filipino had once said after yet another practice run was stopped abruptly. "I'm only trying to improve my meager skills to help protect you guys and the Nirvana."

"William, what you just told me is almost exactly what Meia had told me before you were sent to that desert planet." The doctor replied as he had written something on his clipboard. "And look at what happened to her."

"Doc, I promise I won't be like what Meia had been." William said with a softer voice. "But unless I can be more skillful as a pilot, I cannot overcome the ZERO system or my own personal limitations when I join Hibiki and the others in battle."

"Alright, just follow my advice to rest when you need to and everything will be fine."

-oOo-

While William was talking with the ship's doctor, BC was talking to Magno about how lax everyone has been getting.

"BC, we're pirates. Are we not?" Magno said in reply as she had noticed that her second was getting a little too jumpy. "So we can relax whenever possible. Besides, I never took you for a military type."

"Sorry, Boss. I'm just worried about the crew's morale." BC said as she had looked away for a moment.

"For me, the best way to raise the crew's morale is to let them have moments of peace to counteract the chaos in battle." Magno added with a chuckle. "A panicking crew is certainly the worst in any battle. Our recent past had driven that lesson home."

"You're right as always, Boss." BC replied with a small smile.

-oOo-

Sometime later, the simulation room was filled with other pilots but William did not pay too much attention since he was still giving his full attention to his training session.

Meia and Gascogne did not even disturb him as his presence was not needed in the needed formation that the dread pilots and Hibiki were practicing.

Even so, they still gave him a bird's eye view of the formation as soon as he had stopped his training for a half-hour.

It was then that the Filipino pilot had noted something strange in Dita's piloting but thought nothing of it since she seemed to be upset with something and he was just too kind to actually pry.

William had also noted the less the enthusiastic communication exchanges between her and the others but at the moment, he would rather let Dita and Hibiki sort their problems out while he continued his own rigorous training session.

-oOo-

Hours later, a dejected Hibiki had returned to the simulation room and knocked on the still occupied module's hatch.

A little angry at yet another distraction to his training, William had opened the door hastily. His already dry mouth was about to dress down the nosy doctor for pulling the plug on his practice run once again.

What William had found instead was a deflated Hibiki looking back at him with forlorn eyes.

Seeing that something must have gone horribly wrong at his younger friend, the gundum pilot had asked the doctor to reserve his module since he would return a little later before escorting the Vanguard pilot out the door.

"What do you know; William still keeps his friends in higher regard than I would have thought he would." The tall doctor had made another note in his clipboard before heading to the clinic.

-oOo-

The gundum pilot had led his friend to the park below the bridge so they could talk freely while getting some needed fresh air.

As soon as they arrived, William then asked his friend on what had happened.

"Actually, I think I went a little too far with Dita this morning." Hibiki answered with his head down.

"In what way did ya go a little too far?" William said as he had put an arm around his dejected fellow pilot.

"I literally threw her outta my room when she had cleaned it and placed some sort of alien stuff all over the place," Hibiki answered with a blush. "When we were called fer a briefing later on, Dita didn't even look at me and said that I'd rather unite with Jura. I think she hates me for being a jerk especially since she heard me later while I was arguing with Pyroro."

"Well, I guess you do have point but the only advice I can give ya is just to apologize."

"Funny, that's what Gasco and that egg machine has been tellin' me too albeit in their own quirky little way." Hibiki said while scratching his head. "Are ya sure that you were practicin' all day in that simulator?"

William's irritated reply was cut off by a high pitched scream from the observation ledge above them. Both young men had looked up to see some strange shapes appear from the darkness of local space.

Seconds later, the ship's klaxons had blared as a commanding voice had called for all pilots to assemble in the hanger.

Both William and Hibiki ran as fast they could towards the hanger with Parfeit running after them.

The young engineer was yelling something about yet another set of upgrades to Wing Zero but she had run out of breath quickly in following the sprinting young men.

The dreads had taken off first from their respective launch pads in the front or sides of the ship while the Vanguard and Wing Zero had followed them from their launch pads in the stern of the Nirvana.

-oOo-

Out in space, Meia was telling the dreads to move into formation and the newly transformed Zero to fly above and behind them to serve as their secondary wild card.

"I'm cool with that," William answered as he had led his winged gundum above the dreads' formation and still remain slightly behind them.

"Wait, where's Jura?" Meia asked as she had suddenly noticed that there was one dread missing from the launched group.

"Oops, I think she's pretty busy right now." Barnette answered in the airwaves. She had remembered that Jura and Bart had done some early celebrating of the success of their plan for the union of the former's dread with the Vanguard to form yet another Vandread.

"Well then, I have no other choice." Meia said to the team. "Dita, I want you and Hibiki to combine so as to follow the original formation."

Dita was about to tell her leader that she could not do it when the Vanguard's pilot's voice had come in the tactical network.

"Dita, um, could ya jus' keep ta what you always do?" Hibiki said with a slight hesitation. "Great, now I'm outta whack too. Thanks a lot, UFO Girl."

"Um, sure." The red head replied simply as her similarly colored lips had curved to a smile.

"Time ta do this the right way- the Tokai Way," Hibiki's voice had betrayed his gladness in the ships' speakers.

A moment later, Vandread Dita was formed and everyone had eagerly raced towards their foes with Dita even saying "Yahoo" in her joy.

-oOo-

Weeks later, the Nirvana had parked itself some distance away from a space station.

The truth was that the space craft was actually a mission station since it had played an important part in the terra forming days of the early galaxy settlers.

Despite the fact that he had wanted to train more in the simulation module, William was dragged along by both Hibiki and Dita to board the stationary space craft.

Weeks of training had been good for the Filipino pilot, given his much more muscular and slimmer physique.

They had separated from the rest just enough for the gundum pilot to tell the red headed dread pilot (since she had asked on what planet he was from) that he was actually from a different time and place.

William was not able to say more since Meia had called them over to give them the necessary instructions. It was about that time that a crazed chimpanzee had attacked them.

Unfortunately for the gundum pilot, the moment he had yelled what the strange animal that had swiped Pyroro was, Meia and Barnette had figured out that William was not from Taraak at all. They had both made mental notes to talk to him in private after this mission.

The monkey had drawn enough of their attention so that a tall man with long green hair had made his appearance without their knowing it.

The man had chided the Taraakan by mistaking him for a girl but his brows furrowed on the young man who had calmed the raging teen by means of a few words and a light brown hand on the Taraakan's shoulders.

"Well, well. Seems that we have men **and** women working together," The man said as he had drawn to full height while his red irises had studied the group before him.

He already knew that the most of the girls had drawn their weapons, like the blue haired one who was aiming at him with her energy ring while a blonde standing behind him was holding a rapier to his neck.

As for the young men, both of them had their fists cocked and had gotten into awkward battle stances.

A loud cry of help from both Pyroro and Dita had defused the tense situation too quickly as the stranger had cocked his head in the helpless victim's direction.

Meia had nodded her approval, yet in private she was embarrassed at the whole scene.

The man had taken advantage of the lull to throw Pyroro to the guys, hitting William squarely in the face since he had pushed Hibiki off to the side.

Meia was about to fire her weapon when the furry mammal then jumped at her, creating a chance for the man to escape.

-oOo-

In the meantime, outside of the orbital station, yet another enemy mother ship that they had called "pods" had shown up and every one had run to their machines as fast as they could. The Nirvana had also activated its shield in case of attack

Wing Zero had boosted itself in the midst of the new chip like enemies and started slashing them one by one.

It was this action that had bought enough time for the rest of the salvaging them to separate their craft from the space station and fight.

William had guided his machine to another sector in space, mostly to distance himself from the arguing ladies who both wanted their dreads to unite with the lone vanguard.

Noticing that he was surrounded by the enemy "cubes", he had used a trick that Zero had taught him again and again while he was still in the simulator.

Wing Zero had separated his rifles and fired them at the same time, while William using the control levers and foot pedals, had made the gundum spin in space thus wiping out the enemy surrounding it.

"Not bad, Will but wait'll ya see this." Hibiki crowed as the shoulder cannons on Vandread Dita had come to life and blasted the enemy mother ship and its cube fighters to smithereens. "Now that's awesome, huh?"

"Yep, it was really awe inspiring." William had deadpanned since his own stunt went by unnoticed to the other fighters and the Nirvana.

-oOo-

As soon as the salvaging crew had deplaned and were heading for their bunks for a brief rest, the group again had met the man that the group had tangled in the space station.

This time, he was hawking a lot of bric a bracs to the elated girls in one of the main hallways.

The Vanguard pilot would have opened his mouth to say something when Meia had grabbed him with her gloved hand in his mouth and motioned for William and Dita to follow them.

They were quickly followed by Jura and Barnette with the former being surprised by her leader's actions.

This event was also not lost on the man who the other crew members had called "Mr. Rabat".

This was why, after complimenting a mussed up (re: her whole face covered in make up) Paiway, he had asked the young nurse to tell him about the new machines that he had seen in battle earlier.

-oOo-

In Meia's room, the dread leader had asked the William on what he had told Dita and Hibiki before she had called them.

"Meia, this is something that I'd rather keep between Dita, Hibiki, and myself." William was saying after gulping at the Dread leader's lengthy stare. "It would seem too weird for everyone to know about my true origins."

"Considering that you acted like you know a lot about men and women from the start as well as realizing that Taraak doesn't have Wing Zero in its arsenal is enough for me to know that you didn't come from that male dominated planet." Meia responded with a smirk.

"Alright, you got me, Commander." William said with a sigh. He had motioned for everyone to take his or her seat since he had a long story to tell.

-oOo-

After William had told the group everything, the young women had all looked at the Vanguard pilot who had acted like he knew about it already.

Hibiki had countered that he and William had exchanged stories in their captivity and also kept each other's tale a secret. He then recounted his own story that brought some tears in three of the dread pilots' eyes.

It was by this time that there was a slight bump on the door where Hibiki had stopped his story when he was signaled by the dread leader to do so. Barnette then tiptoed to the door and opened it.

The door had slid to the side with a whoosh, revealing a smiling Rabat who had fallen to the bedroom's threshold.

"Sorry, I was actually looking for the rest room. So can either of you guys help me out here?" The lanky smooth talker said as he had drawn to full height.

Jura and Barnette had offered their help since they too had some mistrust in the lanky green haired man.

When Radat had asked why they did not let the males come with him, Jura then answered. "Those two didn't even know where the rest rooms are since we always have to escort them there, blindfolded."

Finding that his excuse to talk to the men was thwarted, Rabat had let the two girls escort him to the restroom.

"I guess I'm not the only one who felt some bad vibes with that guy," Hibiki unknowingly mused aloud.

"Yes, he's too much of a sweet talker to be believable." Meia replied softly.

-oOo-

The three men had met once again in the Vanguard's hanger where Rabat had once again tried to study both the Vanguard and Wing Zero only to be repulsed by its pilots.

Dita had arrived too late since she had just put on some make up in the nearby rest room.

What she and the others had seen was a three way no-holds barred fist fight with both Hibiki and William being seriously beaten up by Rabat.

The Filipino was already sailing towards a steel bulkhead back first when the red head had arrived in the hanger. His partner in crime had joined him a little later courtesy of a surprise twist kick made by his older opponent.

Both young men still came back into the thick of the fight in their shared hope of dishing some punishments of their own with fists and teeth clenched in anger. Blood was already splattered in the hanger floor, mostly from Hibiki and William's bloodied nose and teeth.

It was only when Meia had fired a single laser beam in the midst of the fighting trio that the fighting itself stopped. Parfeit had told her what had happened since she was busy talking with Zero at the time.

"Rabat, we do not condone fighting in this ship." Meia said while keeping her laser ring on the tallest man. "The fact that neither Hibiki nor William had even thrown the first punch is enough grounds for you to leave this ship."

"Alright, alright. I'm already done with my business here," Rabat replied with a smug smile. "I hope to be of service to you girls someday."

After the tall man had left the hanger, Hibiki said after wiping some blood off his mouth. "Sheyeah, right."

Dita had half-carried the beaten Vanguard pilot on the way to the clinic while Meia and Parfeit did the same to similarly beat up gundum pilot.

-oOo-

In the clinic, William had felt that the ship seemed to be accelerating. He had opened a line with Bart to ask what was going on.

"Yeah well, this is payback for the ass kicking you guys got earlier." Bart replied before closing the line.

All of a sudden the whole ship had lurched to a stop since the Paeksis had suddenly powered down. Bart said as much when he had contacted his fellow males in the clinic.

Hibiki then opened the link to the bridge before asking for permission for the Vanguard and Wing Zero to give chase only to be denied by Magno herself.

The Vanguard pilot had gone into a rant about dick heads getting away while both William and Duero pondered about how did Rabat know about the relationship between men and women as well as what was his real job.

William especially had a bad feeling on what would happen next as he left the clinic for the males' own shared room.

* * *

Well, this story is really going from bad to worse this time around as you can see. Also, this is the first of three successive chapters using military acronyms in their respective titles that actually makes sense once you read the chapter itself.

Thankfully, the Mycenes have all gone and that stupid Koji had left me in the care of his two offspring even though I am much too large to look after two toddlers of different sexes and ages while he and his wife - Sayaka go on a movie date.

It makes me wish that Venus-A has a demon mode as well to help me look after the children as she is better with them than I am, being the woman that she is.

(shakes head) I can hear the children coming now so I bid you farewell until the next chapter.


	5. Adios, My Friend

Hello and welcome to the fifth chapter of this story. This chapter is also the second of three consecutive chapters where an (in)famous military acronym would be used even though it is not as well known as the previous one.

We have already been shown the two versions of the titular mecha - Vandread in the last few chapters and it is here that we will be seeing the third. Regarding our hero, he is starting to improve his skills in both social and fighting ability.

Like I said in an earlier chapter, the chapter title is bowdlerized for obvious reasons.

So please read and enjoy the fifth chapter of Flight of the Intruders entitled...

* * *

Chapter 5 – **Adios, My Friend**

Weeks later, the crew of the Nirvana had seen a beautiful Earth-like blue planet whose surface seemed to be covered with 99 percent water.

Dita had even pulled both Hibiki and William to the bridge to let them see the planet's beauty for themselves.

The gundum pilot was suddenly hit by a wave of homesickness when he saw the planet in the large screen in front of him.

He had excused himself for a while by saying that he had a stomach ache or something but only the blue dread and Vanguard pilots had understood the real reason.

"Tell that boy that he's not the only one who's homesick," Magno said to Dita and Hibiki just as they were nearing the door.

-oOo-

Once they had gotten to the privacy of the men's living quarters, Dita had apologized to the gundum pilot for her rash actions.

"Nah, I jus' got homesick, that's all." William said as he had wiped some tears off his brown eyes. "That planet reminds me so much of my home planet- Earth. I wonder how the Earth is right now since the colonists had left it decades ago."

"I dunno," Hibiki said in reply. He was relieved that William had recovered quickly and was now in high spirits.

"Guess we'll never find out until someone back there would tell us about it. By the way, Boss said that you're not the only one who is homesick. Wonder what she meant by that."

The blare of klaxons had once again broken the silence that followed as every pilot headed for the hangers as fast as they could.

-oOo-

Along the way, Hibiki's path was blocked by Jura and Barnette. The latter girl was holding a video camera in her left hand.

Two light stands that flanked the girls had nearly blinded the young man in their intense glare.

Jura was telling the sixteen year old in her own seductive way to have their crafts to combine.

The talk was only short lived though since Dita had grabbed the young pilot by the crook of his left arm and continued on their way.

"Hey, I'm not even through talking to him yet." Jura was yelling at the running trio only to be ignored.

Hibiki had risked a look back over his shoulder to find that the girls were now chasing him and his friends to the hangers as well.

'Jeez, what's with this unite thing anyway? That blonde chick shoulda found a way to unite her dread with Wing Zero instead. Now that would be funny as hell.' The Taraakan had thought with a mental guffaw.

-oOo-

The Dread team along with the Vanguard and Wing Zero were about to investigate the strangely shaped alien craft when the two dozen cubes had jumped them.

To add to their troubles, the cubes seemed to have learned to dodge their missiles and other attacks.

"What the hell?!" Hibiki was saying as he had trouble slashing the now evasive enemy. "These guys are dodging every move I made on 'em."

"I agree; they seem to have learned our tactics somehow and have developed ways to counter-act them," Meia said in conjunction with the Vanguard pilot's communication. Her craft was already chasing cubes that were after Dita's dread.

"Guess we'll have ta change our fightin' style then," William said as Wing Zero had pretended to slash an enemy cube only to have it drilled by its shoulder cannons. "Waddya know, it actually worked."

Seeing William's example, the other pilots had changed their tactics to confuse their enemy.

Even then, the enemy still prevented the Vanguard to combine with either Dita's dread or even Meia's.

They had also kept within a short distance behind the other dreads so as not to be shot off by Zero's now separated buster rifles' salvos before transforming to Neo-Bird mode.

"Hmm, it would seem that these 'cubes' had developed some sort of intelligence since we had last tangled with them." Zero had mused out loud while the gundum was chasing the cubes that were themselves chasing the dreads, firing its winged Vulcan cannons all the while. "I believe this situation is where the term 'rat race' originated."

"Yeah, seems like we havta pull out everythin' you taught me in simulation." His pilot answered as the Filipino's fingers had pushed the necessary buttons while his gloved hands and booted feet had continued their lateral movements and stomping dance over the HOTAS control sticks and foot pedals respectively.

The winged gundum had responded by dodging projectiles from the cubes (and some friendly fire from the dreads) while blasting some cubes at close range.

Upon its transformation back to mobile suit mode, it then slashed at the cubes while either evading or blocking the enemies' own attacks.

If neither tactic worked, the pile driving nose of the left arm shield or the gundum's metal shod feet were used to lash out at the enemy.

Hibiki had found himself so impressed by his friend's unorthodox piloting that he did not see five cubes jump on him until they were all falling down on the planet.

Jura had given chase while the others were either just too far away to help or were kept busy by the remaining cubes.

Shouts of Hibiki, Mr. Alien, and Jura had permeated the tactical net as the units (both friendly and hostile) continued their fiery descent towards the watery planet below.

All of it was in vain since they had all splashed down in excess of 500 miles per hour, creating a huge wave of water crashing in the settlement only one hundred miles west of the impact site.

William and the rest could only watch the spectacle since they were still some cubes left in the battle.

After the last enemy cube was beaten above the planet's atmosphere, something extraordinary had happened down below.

A new form of craft had emerged from the ocean water surrounded by the five cubes that chased it earlier on. The said cubes did not what hit it after the transformation was complete.

The pilots as well as the bridge of the Nirvana could only gawk at the appearance of the new Vandread which to pretty much everyone's disappointment – was a red…crab.

"Well, at least it fits the marine environment in the planet below." William had joked lamely before making a sweat at the heated glares in the various communication windows in his screen especially Barnette's.

"Shutting up now," he added quickly.

-oOo-

After the dread pilots and lone gundum pilot had deplaned, William immediately headed for his room to prepare his clothes for a quick trip to the laundry and himself a needed shower. That was how sweaty he was after helping the dreads defeat the cubes outside.

While he was in the shower, the gundum pilot could not help but worry about his fellow pilots in the planet down below.

The battle in the planet below was more of a shakedown than an actual battle for both Hibiki and Jura while they were fending off then later destroying the cubes just over the water surface.

As soon as he had emerged from the shower room fully dressed and toweled dry, William was greeted by the sight of Paiway who was smiling widely up at him for some reason.

"Alright, Squirt. What do ya want?"

"Nothing-kero," the little girl with twin pony tails replied while retaining her smile as they had exited the said room. "And don't call me Squirt-kero."

"Uh-huh," William said as he was already on his way to the bridge to ask about the status of his best friend but had made a brief stop at his room. "So why are ya still here if it is just nothin'?"

"Alright, you got me-kero. I wanted to know more about you since you're pretty much an enigma here-kero," The child nurse said this time with puppy dog eyes.

"I can't do that, Paiway." The Filipino said with a heavy sigh as he had continued walking.

"Why-kero? Is it because you're not really from Taraak-kero?" Paiway said as she had to run as the bigger teen's strides were too fast and too long for her to keep up by just walking.

"Yes."

"So only Dita, Jura, Barnette, and Meia could know about your big secret-kero?" After recovering from her slight shock, Paiway had whined like the little girl she actually was.

She was also still trying her best to keep pace with the taller Filipino pilot.

"Paiway, even though I respect the fact that you want to know everything around ya, there are still some things that are best kept as a secret."

"You men are all alike, y'know that-kero?" She said as she had brought her pink oval camera up once again.

"Not all of us, kid. Some of us jus' want to hide whatever it is that we're embarrassed about," William said just as he had seen a flash followed by a whirring sound coming from behind him. "See ya, Squirt."

-oOo-

Once William had arrived at the bridge, both Magno and BC were already leaving. The bridge girls were looking at him strangely though.

Before leaving the bridge completely, Magno said. "Would ya like to come with us planet side, boy?"

This simple question had nearly caused quite an uproar in the bridge crew before BC's heated gaze silenced them.

Thankfully, Ezra Vieil had gone out to satisfy her cravings in the ship's mess hall.

"Um, no thank you. I'd rather stay in the ship since I'm still feelin' some pain in my stomach," William said as his brown eyes were cast downward since he may have seen something of interest on the floor and his gloved hands were placed above his belly.

"Alright, just call for Bart when you need anything." The old woman was escorted by BC on their way out of the bridge.

'Jeez, I forgot to ask how Hibiki and Jura are.' The gundum pilot thought bitterly.

"If you're asking about the Vanguard pilot and Jura, they're fine," came a muffled voice from the over-sized teddy bear in the leftmost station.

"Um, thank you, Miss…" The gundum pilot had trailed off since he did not even know the names of the bridge crew.

"Name's Celtic Midori and these are my friends – Belvedere Coco (pointing to the blond girl waving back at them) and Amarone Slaintheav (the African-American Mejeran who had also waved briefly) and you must be the enigmatic William Zapanta, am I right?" the girl in the bear costume said with uncharacteristic glee through the costume's cloth even though the Filipino could only imagine it.

"Yes, I am." William said as he had slowly turned around. "Nice to see you three but there's a simulation module that's waitin' for me back there."

"Hold it, mister." Amarone said as she had showed her chocolate brown palm to the puzzled pilot. "How's about staying here for a while and talk with us since you've been cooped up in that simulator module almost everyday."

After a brief pause, she then added. "The only times that you don't is when you fix your machine, work out and practice hand to hand fighting in the gym, do your work in the Armory, fight the harvesters, or just recently- sleep. Other than that, besides Duero who is a bit creepy sometimes, you're the only male here who isn't a total jerk."

"Alright, but I cannot tell ya much about myself since you wouldn't believe it anyway."

"Try us," Belvedere said as she had studied the young man's body language.

She was able to determine that he was hiding something and that something is what pretty much all of the female crew really wanted to know.

Thankfully, the alarms had blared once again to remind them of another encounter with the enemy and William had used that moment to run out the sliding door towards the hanger.

"That is surely odd," Amarone said mostly to herself.

This had earned her some glances from her workmates as they readied the ship for battle stations when the pregnant Ezra had just arrived and slowly headed for her station.

"What is?" Belvedere asked in confusion.

"The fact that something huge is on its way here as well as the fact that William shared the same initials as his gundum."

"We'll leave that for later. Right now, we have an enemy to fight." Celtic said as she had monitored the enemy's movements.

-oOo-

This time, the dreads and the lone gundum had gone up against a rather large spaceship that looks a lot like a super-sized sea cucumber complete with spines.

It had latched on to the earlier shell like craft before the latter had unleashed a strip of light around a hundred meters in width to a specific point in the planet below.

Meia had led the group to attack the conjoined crafts when cubes had again jumped them from behind the craft itself.

Another rat race had ensued in the fringes of the planet's atmosphere near the alien craft with everyone trying to destroy the cubes while trying to stay alive themselves.

Sometime during the battle where some of the dreads were lost due to tightness and craziness of the ensuing rat race, Vanguard Jura had raced out of the atmosphere.

In the meantime, Zero had again made an ambulance run as it scooped up the pods with the dread pilots inside in its massive arms before they would get sucked by what looked like a giant alien vacuum cleaner.

"Hey, how's about you girls take a powder while Jura and me get this battle over with." Hibiki said as the Vandread had already flown past the Nirvana.

"All dread groups; regroup near the Nirvana's orbit." Meia said with a hint of anger. "William, get those pods in the Nirvana on the double."

William had welcomed the newcomer as he was already too tired to continue chasing cubes all over the place with no time to get some rest or even fire his machine's signature weapon on the massive craft that he was staring at.

"Thanks, guys. Although the delivery itself needs some work."

Turning back to Meia's stern face in the screen, he then added with a slight blush. "We're on our way, ma'am."

"Ah, jus' let me and Jura kick some ass and things will be gravy." Hibiki replied as he had pounded his right fist on one of the buttons in the panel in front of him.

Small discs had risen from the Vandread's sides and headed for their specific places above the planet. The discs then made their magic as a thin patch of green light had enveloped the whole planet.

The diminutive pilot then pushed another button which had made the middle lens draw millions of gallons of water and aimed it towards the alien ship's kilometer wide "mouth."

"Swallow this," Hibiki said as he had pushed the all important red button.

The ensuing wave of water was too much for the alien ship to take and it had blown up like a balloon filled with too much helium gas.

-oOo-

After all of them had deplaned for the second time that day, everyone was dog tired and headed for their rooms.

Jura and Barnette had an argument on the fact that Vandread Jura's first sortie had to be taped while Dita had grabbed an exhausted Hibiki from behind with Jura and Barnette giving chase.

Both Meia and William had tiredly looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders while the other dread pilots had looked on in wonder as both pilots went their respective ways.

The Filipino had continued his way to his room, using the wall as a sort of crutch since he was in danger of falling down with each step.

-oOo-

It was the fact that the young nurse and reporter was sitting on his bunk bed that had brought a surge of adrenalin to the Filipino gundum pilot.

"Paiway, can we have this interview tomorrow since I really need a nap right 'bout now?" William said as he had leaned on the door frame, keeping the sliding door out of sight.

"Ok, but you'll have to come to my office instead-kero." The child nurse said in reply.

"Alright, see ya tomorrow."

"Bye-bye-kero."

After the pre-teen had left the room with the hissing noise being proof that door had slid closed, William had finally let gravity take over on his way down to his waiting bunk and fell asleep almost immediately.

-oOo-

Three months later, it was Christmas time and a time of happiness for almost the whole crew of the Nirvana.

But for William, it was a time that he would rather stay in the simulation module or in Zero's cockpit for almost the whole day since every Christmas décor and the smells of homemade cooking had made him think of his home and his family.

Thankfully, he was able to hide his true past from the curious nurse by making up a more fantastic yet still believable one instead.

It came to the point that the Filipino could only celebrate the Yuletide holidays with his family only in his dreams.

Thankfully, there were no battles for survival so that the crew could enjoy their gift giving and other Christmas traditions.

-oOo-

Only the men from Taraak seemed to be confused with all the preparations and merriment in the park below the Nirvana's bridge.

"I wonder why all the girls are decoratin' and stuff. It makes no sense since it is jus' another day." Hibiki mused aloud. 'I wish William was here with us but he pretty much made his point when he said that he'd rather stay in the simulation module than come out here.'

"The girls are celebrating what is called Christmas," Pyroro had suddenly spoken up from behind them, surprising the three men. "Don't you have any festivals at Taraak?"

The three men then looked at each other and imagined how they celebrate their special days. Only their festivals were more on tests of skill and gladiatorial fights than anything else.

"Actually, ours is not even fun." Bart said in depressed tone.

"Definitely, it's more like a demonstration who's more of a bad ass than anyone else. Boring," the Vanguard pilot added.

All of the males except for Pyroro had hung their heads in shame. This head hanging had only lasted for a few minutes when the door had slid open with a hiss and Dita came in at a run.

After grabbing the hapless Vanguard pilot, she had led the way towards the rear of the ship with Bart and Duero following them from a safe distance.

-oOo-

Half an hour later, the group had entered a room with some large group of paeksis crystals at some corners in the said room. Among them was the sullen William who was abruptly and forcefully pulled out of his module to help with finding the Christmas lights for the ship.

After some fumbling with the stacked up boxes, Hibiki had fallen through a hidden door to the right of the room.

They had all entered cautiously only to find a bigger room covered with dust. A shelf was stacked with toys from the twentieth century along with some others from the twenty-first.

There were even some old oil paintings on the walls. In the middle of the room, there were some wooden furniture and some television sets that William had neared with a deliberate slowness.

He was afraid that all the items were maybe just a figment of his imagination and slowly placed a gloved hand on the item's curved glass screen to prove that it was real and tangible.

The group could only stare in awe at the whole room before Dita had grabbed some dolls, mindless of the dust they had added to her pink uniform.

Duero had picked up a Digital Versatile Disc in another dusty shelf and gave it to the gundum pilot.

William, in turn, had plugged in the necessary DVD player and television before turning them on and inserting the DVD in its proper place. He had some experiences with CD players before and thus was able to operate the device.

What the group saw had shocked Bart and Duero while the others had only watched with either fascination or envy.

"This is what a nuclear family would be like in my time," William had told his friends simply while trying not to think of his own family.

The other two males and lone female were shocked speechless with Duero saying in a shaky voice. "Do you mean to say that you're really not of this time?"

"No, I'm not." William had to smile at the expression of his other male friends. "I was born years before the Colonization fleet even left Earth, maybe even decades before, since I'm sure that the technology at the time wasn't even advanced enough for long term space flight."

"So how did you come here?" Bart said as he had finally found his voice.

"I'll tell you another time, Bart." William said as he had headed back out. "For now, let's find the Christmas lights and join in the celebrations."

-oOo-

The group had eventually found the lights and got back to their duties.

William was about to head back to his module when Meia, Jura, and Barnette had asked him to take them to the room where the DVD was found since Duero had its contents broadcasted in the ship's entertainment systems.

When the group had arrived, William had explained the various items and how much they reminded him of home.

Just after he finished, some girls had also arrived and cleaned the place as well as took some items in the room for their own.

The Filipino pilot had also taken some items with him before carrying them in his bunk. Meia had deftly taken an item herself before she stealthily returned to her room.

-oOo-

Hours later, Dita had found our gundum pilot once again in the simulation room.

William had told her that he does have not anything else to do in the armory and that when he does join in the preparations, he was always asked about his personal life before the pirates had met him.

"You could always tell the truth since it sets you free," offered the red headed girl as she was looking for the Vandread pilot at the time.

"Not always, Dita." William said as they had exited the simulation room.

"I don't understand."

"Let me put it this way, Dita." William said with yet another sigh. "Some people's pasts or secrets are just too painful or embarrassing or even dangerous to be told to everyone."

"But it's obvious to everyone else that you're not from Taraak," said Dita as she had tried to make her case heard.

"That's true, but it doesn't mean that I'm from another planet where another colony ship may have landed or crashed."

"Oh," Dita said as they had entered the hanger just as the door had opened with a hiss.

"Why didn't I think of that?!" The red head had exclaimed as she did a delayed double take that her companion simply laughed at as he had continued his way.

"The Vanguard's not here, either." The red haired girl said with a slight choke as she had sufficiently recovered from her swoon.

'Don't ya worry about it," The Filipino said as he had comforted the girl with an arm over her shoulders as soon as she had caught up. "Zero, any ideas on where Hibiki may have gone to?"

The massive rumble from Zero's external speakers was heard before it was replaced by a deep masculine voice. The fact that its eyes and globe on its chest had also also filled with green light was another clue that Zero had activated itself.

"It would seem that Hibiki has gone in the nearby comet to look for what he had called a gift."

"Thank you, Zero." Dita said with a bow of gratitude. "I'd better head back to the park since I still have to put some tinsel in the Christmas tree. How 'bout you, William?"

"Nah, I'll take a relaxing walk around the ship though."

-oOo-

William's walk around the ship was anything but relaxing though since almost everyone he met along the way had asked him for a favor of some kind or just to chat.

Thankfully, he was too busy with the offered tasks to talk about himself- a subject he would rather keep to a few friends.

When William had finally arrived at the Nirvana's little park, Ezra ran into him. She was hiding from Pyroro of all…people, sort of.

The little egg robot was about to intrude on Ezra's personal space when a brown gloved hand had stopped its movements in mid air.

"William, what do you think you're doing?"

"Keepin' ya in arm's length while I figure out what the heck is going on, that's what."

"Actually, I'm just a little creep out at how Pyroro's touching my tummy." Ezra said as the two males had exchanged glares.

Only the brown haired young woman had seen the telltale flash of light coming from the ship's nurse and reporter before the youngster herself had disappeared in the crowd.

William had let go of the little robot when he looked at the slightly older woman with a perplexed expression.

"Alright, Pyroro. What's yer angle since it isn't like ya to touch other people's stomachs?" He said as his brown eyes had once again bore on the little egg shaped robot.

The little robot's reply was cut short by someone clearing her throat. William had looked around to see that some of the crew members were looking at them oddly.

The gundum pilot had simply smiled back at them while grabbing the surprised robot and tucking it under his left arm like he would do to a paper folder or envelope.

Afterwards, he had grabbed the pregnant operator's hand and they headed for someplace more private.

-oOo-

As it turned out, the only place where the three could get some needed privacy was in the rear hanger. The two crewmen had talked about childbirth and such so Pyroro could understand how the process worked as they sat on the lounge chairs that the gundum pilot had borrowed from the Armory.

In turn, the little robot had told them that he was fascinated with babies ever since he had seen the little movie earlier.

"It only means that you are beginning to feel like a human, my little friend." Zero's slightly warmed voice had told them from its external speakers.

"Do you feel the same, Zero?"

"Maybe, but I am a war machine." Zero answered with a hint of guilt in its voice. "I was built to fight so I thought that was my destiny. Only William here told me that I am also built to protect and that is what we are doing right now, protecting the Nirvana and its motley crew from the harvest fleet."

"I suppose nobody told you this, but thank you, Zero." Ezra said with a bit of fear since she was talking to a nearly seventeen meter high robot with enough firepower to destroy the Nirvana itself as she had taken a little bow as soon as she had shakily stood up.

"You should thank William for teaching me that philosophy, Miss Vieil."

Ezra did so by hugging the surprised the gundum pilot slightly after he too had stood up. The side effect of which was that both of them had blushed slightly after doing so.

"How did you know my name, Zero?"

"Miss Balblair was able to link me to the Nirvana's computer network so I was able to scan your dossiers while learning much about the paeksis and our enemy."

"Ah."

"So how's about we head back to the party," William said as he had hid his flushing cheeks as he had placed an arm on his companion's left shoulder. "See ya, Zero."

"Farewell, my friends and Merry Christmas." The gundum answered at the three who were leaving the hanger.

-oOo-

When the three had arrived at the park where most of the crew was already celebrating, they had witnessed how happy everyone was in the exchange of greetings and even gifts.

This scene had reminded the Filipino of the gift he had promised to Parfait since the latter had jokingly asked him to give her a gift for all the things that she had done to Wing Zero when they had met an hour earlier.

After helping Ezra take a seat in an unoccupied bench and pulling the nav-bot with him, William then ran to his room as if his life had depended on it.

Again, the little robot had squirmed under the right arm of the running pilot and even complained about how the latter needs a little more deodorant.

The gundum pilot's heated reply was masked by the murmur of the amused crowd as well as the hiss of the closing door.

"That William Zapanta, always concerned 'bout someone." With a forlorn sigh, Ezra said to herself. "Too bad, he's male. He'd actually make a good Ohma someday."

-oOo-

It was only much later that the gundum pilot had joined the pregnant operator in her seat, having given a gift to the ecstatic female engineer along the way.

He had told the young woman that Pyroro was busy doing something somewhere else in the ship.

Both had ignored the strange glances from the other crew members since they were only friends and that it was not that much strange given that Hibiki and Dita were almost always seen together.

A few did ask about how Ezra could explain this situation to Rebecca, another dread team leader in their headquarters and Ezra's Ohma (the Majeeran equivalent of husband).

"I'll just tell her that William didn't do anything bad to me and he even took the time to help me get rid of Pyroro, not that I hate the little robot or anything." The pregnant brunette answered with a wavering voice.

"Wow, I do hope she won't get jealous or somethin'." One of the girls who William had recognized as one of the dread pilots he had rescued months before said in reply. "Keep her safe, William or you'll know how Rebecca kicks butt first hand."

"I will."

-oOo-

It was around midnight when Magno in her Santa Claus costume was throwing away some gifts to the delighted crew.

Dita had joined the two crewmen who were just content about talking about anything except William's past after they had arrived in the park.

The aforementioned pilot was actually rubbing his head after Magno had thrown a gift on his black haired "canopy" while Ezra had laughed heartily at the amusing scene.

Thankfully, Paiway was doing a Pai-check on Jura and Barnette who were sharing a hug somewhere else in the park.

Suddenly, a powerful explosion was seen in the comet above the glass screens above them. This was followed by the appearance of snow flakes in the ship's canopy

'Actually,' William thought to himself, 'they were just tiny ice cubes emitted by the comet in the earlier explosion.'

The gundum pilot had never put his thoughts into spoken words though so as not to be a spoilsport at this magical time.

A series of loud thumps was later heard and everyone had looked up to see the yellow Vanguard banging on the canopy with its right mechanical hand while waving a large piece of ice with his left.

A silver dread fighter was seen in the background heading back to its hanger at the starboard wing.

A happy Dita had raced to the hanger while the Vanguard was also led to its hanger.

William had only smiled at what his friend had done and asked Ezra to help him carry some of the feast and gifts to their quarters.

"Of course, I'm sure that Hibiki's real hungry right now."

-oOo-

After the pair had carried most of the prepared meal and gifts for the Vanguard pilot, Magno had recalled William for yet another task.

This time, the task was to bring a certain child nurse to her room since she was too tired to even walk and was currently laying on BC's seat.

As soon as he had arrived at the bridge where the three women were, William had gently hefted the little girl on his left shoulder ("Off to bed, Squirt") before joining Ezra who was bringing the last of the prepared meals for both the Vanguard and gundum pilots.

As soon as the bridge's sliding doors had met in the middle, Magno had quipped. "Now that is a good example of the video we saw earlier in its purest form."

-oOo-

After William had laid the child nurse on her bed and placed the bed covers over her, Ezra had planted a kiss on Paiway's forehead and left the room.

The gundum pilot then escorted the operator to her own room despite her initial protests on the matter.

After they had arrived at the door leading to Ezra's room, the young woman had kissed the young man's left cheek impulsively before entering her room in a rush.

The stymied pilot had held his cheek in a daze as he walked like he was drunk on his way back to his room, the plastic bag holding the last of the prepared meal swinging back and forth in his right hand.

When he entered their sleeping quarters, the gundum pilot had found his young friend already lying on his bunk bed.

The Vanguard pilot was lightly snoring and to the rest of the world, seemed to be deep in slumber and covered by his blanket and a small gift in pink wrapping paper lying on top of him.

"Merry Christmas, my friend." William said as he had placed Hibiki's share of the meal before heading for his own bed.

-oOo-

The next morning, William was surprised by six gifts that were placed next to his bunk bed.

Hibiki has already left for his duties in the armory. He had also carried with him the spent plates that were left in his room the previous night.

The younger pilot did leave a note for the Filipino to catch up as soon as he could.

After doing his morning ablutions and putting on his newly pressed uniform – a light brown jumpsuit that he could use while piloting Zero as well as cleaning and cataloging the various missiles and other ordnance along with the shorter pilot.

Before he left, William had also opened the gifts which consisted mostly of new clothes to wear as well as a sloppily hand written instruction on how to fix the mechanical systems of Wing Zero.

-oOo-

A month had passed by and everyone had gotten used to the usual routine in the Nirvana's odyssey.

The said routine had consisted of getting ambushed by the Harvest fleet followed by a few days to a whole week of peace and quiet until the enemy had found them again.

The days of relative quiet was spent in different ways among the crew. Most of the girls had spent it in idle talk and some sleepovers.

Both Meia and William had used it to further hone their skills in the simulation room.

They had even fought a simulated dogfight one time with either one getting a victory over the other and the loser doubling back to win in the next round. One time, even Hibiki and Dita had joined in the play fight.

At least that was before the red head would pull the plug on them by inviting them to a picnic. She was able to do so since all three had certain soft spots for the red headed pilot.

For Parfeit and the other engineers, this was the perfect time to do some repairs on the ship and its fighters as well as the lone gundum and even the Vanguard at times.

For Gascogne, she had sometimes used it to play and chat with some of the pilots when they play poker. Of course, Hibiki always loses the game since the registrar had always teased him about his redheaded seatmate.

For Duero, it was a time to relax and catch up on his readings. Hibiki and Dita had also used the lull to fix their machines and maybe even spend some time with each other. This was so even though the Vanguard pilot would refuse to admit that very fact even to himself.

The only one who hated the lull in battles was Bart since he had felt out of place and maybe even used by the females when he temporarily takes over from Magno when the latter leaves her command chair for some time.

-oOo-

"Hey, Duero. Do you think I 'ave a chance of gettin' some respect here?" The blond helmsman told the doctor as they stayed in the latter's clinic. "Are you even listening to me?"

"No."

"C'mon, man." Bart said with a slight whine. "Be a pal, will ya?"

With a sigh, Duero stopped whatever he was doing to look at the helmsman who was sitting on the clinic's bed.

"There was a man with short hair who wanted a certain job." He said to start his brief story. "The only problem was everyone in the workplace had long hair. Even then, he toiled in his work even though everyone else had made fun of him."

He looked at the other male to make sure that he was listening. Bart had nodded enthusiastically to show that he was.

"By the time that his hair grew long, he was already accepted into the workplace and the other workers had treated him as one of their own." The doctor had finished his story just as the blond had stood up and shook his hand vigorously.

Bart had by then ran through the opening hatch on his way to his room.

-oOo-

About thirty minutes later, both Hibiki and William had helped Dita pick up some ingredients for a surprise party she have been planning.

All three of them were in the pantry with the token female searching for the correct plastic container with the other two pilots holding two containers each.

"Jezz, would ya hurry up." Hibiki was saying from behind the two containers he was carrying.

A tap on his right shoulder made Hibiki look to his right where the gundum pilot had already laid down his load on the floor, near the latter's black boots.

Sheepishly, the Vanguard pilot had followed William's example and laid his load just beside those already on the floor.

"Please bear with me, Mr. Alien." The red head's words were a bit muffled as her head was in between a row of containers while her delicate hands were gripping yet another container with the words, onions, on its shorter side. "I think I found 'em."

Hibiki had thought he had seen something behind another container so he investigated it. What he saw are two green eyes that were looking back at him.

He had jumped back in surprise, nearly colliding with both William and Dita before falling to the floor on his butt.

"What are you three doin' here-kero?" a rather high pitched voice asked from behind the shelves. This was followed by a slight screech as the round face of the Nirvana's nurse came into view.

"Good question, Squirt." The Vanguard pilot answered as he had stood up.

Hibiki had to hide a smirk at the pout that had appeared in Paiway's face when he had called her by William's favorite nickname for the said child nurse.

He had actually thought that her face which was framed by the shelves' four metal sides looked like a very funny picture.

A look to his left had confirmed that both of his friends had thought the same thing as they also hid their faces from the annoyed pre-teen's view.

"Eh, I'll leave ya to your own devices-kero." The nurse said as she slid the container back to its original position and left the room. "Stupid know it all jerk-kero."

It was only after the door had slid to a close with a little hiss did the three actually release their breath.

"So what's the deal here, Dita?" William asked since the red head released a small giggle.

"Actually, this is for Paiway since it has been a year since she had joined us." Dita replied with a titter.

"Ok…" Both male pilots said in unison as they had hefted the other containers and followed the girl outside the pantry.

-oOo-

As the trio of pilots had neared the kitchen, both males were bumped by girl in a bear suit.

The subsequent result was that the girl had fallen on Hibiki's front while the Vanguard pilot had fallen on William's side. The containers had also fallen on the sides, nearly hitting the surprised Dita.

To further add to the mayhem, a group of girls had seen the aftermath of the event and drew their own conclusions.

"You pigs!" One of the girls said as she had pointed an accusing finger at the recovering quartet. "How dare you do something so disgusting to our comrade…Midori?!"

"Now wait girls, this is jus' a misunderstanding." William was saying as he had stood up first, waving his hands in the air. "We did not even plan this. It is jus' an accident."

"Silence, we've had enough of your lies." Another girl had said with venom. "Paiway had just told us that you two and Dita were at the pantry doin' something unusual. So how do you explain that one, huh?!"

Hibiki had enough of the verbal abuse and roughly pushed the girl with the spear before making a run for it with William following suit.

The group of angry girls had pursued them right after. Only Dita and Midori had remained, both of them were too shocked to even move.

-oOo-

Meanwhile, back in the clinic, Bart had just thrown off his blonde wig and was in the process of giving the good doctor a piece of his mind.

Duero had shrugged it off and said that the helmsman had run off before he could tell the moral of the story he had given earlier.

"Bart, you should have at least stayed for another two minutes." Duero was saying when the door leading outside had suddenly slid open and two panting mecha pilots had entered in a rush. Both Hibiki and William then frantically searched for something to hide in.

"What the heck is-" Before the blond helmsman could utter another word, the door again had slid open and a group of angry females had entered quickly.

"Alright, where are those two pervs?" One of the women carrying a stun gun had told the two males.

Suddenly, both pilots had emerged from their hiding places (Hibiki had hid in the storage cabinet while William hid under the bed) and ran out once again.

The words – "Sorry, guys" was heard just above the din of the surprised mob and the hissing of the closing door.

Duero could only sigh as he and Bart had raised their hands in surrender.

-oOo-

Both pilots had made it to the rear hanger without getting caught. Of course, there was some trickery involved as they had to make some false turns and a lot of doubling back through the hallways to mislead the chasing mob.

By the time all the women chasing the rouge pilots had arrived in the hanger door, they were already too late.

The door was locked and the unmistakable hissing sound of catapults accelerating to launching speed was heard through the door.

They had known better then try to open the air locked door since it would lead to a sudden decrease in air pressure as well as the fact that Wing Zero's main thrusters' fire could fry them to a crisp.

This fact was confirmed when they had first heard (and felt) the heavy thumping of the Wing Zero's massive feet on the hanger deck followed by the almost ear shattering whine that had signified the gundum's back thrusters were ignited to full military power.

-oOo-

After the mob had left a half hour later, Dita herself had arrived at the slightly ruined hanger, mostly due to the heat of the winged gundum's thunderous take off. She had learned with despair that both the Vanguard and Wing Zero had already taken off for parts unknown.

It was only when she heard the words - "Dita, come here" did she notice that Meia was also in the hanger.

She had slowly neared the blue haired leader who still wore her white body hugging flight suit.

"Dita, I know that you wanted to see Hibiki and William again." Meia had minced no words when she spoke to her fellow pilot and friend. "Am I right?"

The red head only answered with a slight nod, her green eyes about to let loose some tears.

"Alright then, here's what you'll do."

* * *

Wow, I have never noticed that I made nearly eight thousand words in this chapter. As for the chapter ending, I kindly request that you keep your rotten vegetables to yourselves as the cliffhanger is there for a reason.

Next chapter would be about three of our heroes' flight to another planet's orbital fleet with a twist so bad, the crew of the Nirvana itself would be involved whether they like it or not.

Right now, I will be enjoying a needed rest as my hydraulic systems and mechanical components would be needing a full overhaul since I do feel a bit sluggish lately so I will see you in the next chapter.

One last thing before I go...Merry Christmas.


	6. Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition

Hello, everyone and welcome once again to Flight of the Intruders. In this chapter, our heroes learn that they are not the only humans fighting the Harvest fleet and thus their hopes had gone up.

Still, the chapter below is titled for a good reason as you would see. Thus, let us now continue the space soap opera with plenty of action in this chapter lovingly entitled...

* * *

Chapter 6 – **Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition**

A single blue dread had launched from its platform at the starboard fin like part of the Nirvana.

Oddly enough, the women who had made some sort of man hating campaign within the pirate ship itself did even know about it until it was too late.

"What the hell?!" Barnette had yelled since she did not order anyone to pursue the bipedal machines for fear of being destroyed. "Who had launched and on who's authority?"

The shapely green haired pilot had taken over the leadership of the crowd since she was aghast at what the men who she have considered to be her fellow comrades in arms had done to a fellow pirate.

"Dita," a calm and nearly monotone voice said from the newly opened door that had closed with a hiss. "And it is on **my** authority, if I might add."

"Leader?!" Barnette said, making everyone else look in surprise at the newly arrived light blue haired leader of the Dread squadron who was standing at the situation room's threshold.

She could not believe that "Rules and Regs" Meia had let Dita join the "perverted intruders" in their flight.

"Listen to Meia, everyone." Another voice had spoken up from the sidelines.

The said voice had drowned out the soft hiss of the opening hatch as the aforementioned voice continued. "So the boys had made a mistake, big deal. D'you think we could've done better if the situations were reversed?"

"Miss Gasco…" was the general murmur among the crowd.

Gascogne's temper had flared for a moment when people still had her name wrong as she yelled. "For the last time, it's Gascogne!"

After her temper had abated and everyone else except for Meia had cowered in fear of the thirty two year old chief registrar, she added. "Anyway, this meeting's pretty stupid since all you've accomplished is that we're no better than men in general."

"No, it's not." The green haired teen said as she had jumped down from the plastic divider that she had used as a stage before confronting the taller woman. "Unlike those pigs, we have a good reason for doin' this."

Gascogne did not even flinch at the heated glare given to her by the younger woman with the latter's arms akimbo.

Instead, she had leaned on the smaller woman and said. "Remember, Barnette- smile, smile."

After the girl had fallen on her butt while she making a smile that looked more like she had pulled her teeth tentatively, the bemused superior had walked out of the room.

Meia had followed the older woman without any fanfare. Only Jura and the other girls had remained as the blonde pilot helped her best friend up.

This had made Barnette think of something as she had looked back at the newly made white banner that was hanging on the ceiling behind her makeshift stage.

'They do have a point since William is not even from this time and age so he'd be a little better than most males these days,' she had thought with some bitterness. 'But right now, I'll have to play along since morale among the crew would be at an all time low if I don't.'

-oOo-

In space, Dita had looked at her instruments in the hopes that she could spot the runaway Vandread and gundum.

Oddly enough, nothing had registered on her sensors except for a few distortions and snow but she did see some odd shimmering a good distance from her ship's sleek nose.

She had pulled the throttle to herself a bit to come closer to the said shimmering but it seemed to keep its distance away from her ship.

Puzzled by the events, Dita had keyed in her ship's communication system and said hesitantly. "William? Mr. Alien? Are you there?"

After a brief moment that seemed to be an hour to the anxious red head, Hibiki's angry face had showed up in her communication screen's left side.

"What the heck are ya doin' way out here, you crazy UFO girl?!"

"Um," The girl was about to shed a few tears when a second face had appeared on the other side of Hibiki's image.

At the same time, the gundum had deactivated its newly added hyper jammers and active cloak beam deflection barrier and stealth system to save the needed power.

"Hibiki, this is not the time for blame games." William said quietly. "Dita, you should have stayed in the Nirvana. God knows what the girls would do to ya when they catch you with us."

"Sorry, but Meia told me to catch up with you guys." The girl was saying before their conversation was cut short when some laser beams had separated the three mecha's formation and scraped the right shoulder of the Vanguard.

All three pilots had readied their weapons as they charged at the source of the beams.

The three mechas had found themselves in front of a small fleet of spaceships and one of its fighter craft had met them halfway.

Hibiki was about to attack the nearing craft when the gundum's beam shield wielding left arm had stopped him.

"William, what gives?!" the Vandread pilot said when he was rudely blocked by the gundum's left arm.

"Hibiki, let's talk to this guy." The gundum pilot replied with a calm demeanor. "If he's one of the harvest fellows, I'll take him out personally."

They then talked with the craft's pilot which was revealed to be a pale skinned young man with shaggy black hair. The said young man had apologized for his fleet's action when he realized that the three were also enemies of the Harvest fleet.

The young man was puzzled when he had learned that two of them were from Taraak and Mejere and the third had kept quiet about his origins.

Putting his shock aside, the Melusian later led the three pilots and their craft to his fleet that was patrolling the farthest fringes of his planet- Melano's solar system.

-oOo-

When the three teens had entered his ship, which had looked like a gigantic Sai (a dagger-shaped truncheon with two curved prongs) in space, they were surprised to see more people like him. All of them were paired up between the opposite sexes.

"Whoa, is this how're your paired up in your time?" Hibiki nearly whispered in William's right ear after asking the latter to lean down a bit.

When the trio of heroes had deplaned, they had also noticed that their escort was three inches taller then Dita but still shorter then William.

"Heck no," The Filipino answered in another whisper before straightening up. "The only ones who do get paired up are those who loved each other and even they don't stand side by side all the time."

"What're you guys talkin' about?" Their red-headed escort said with a tone of worry, suspicion, and puzzlement as he had looked back at them.

Both men had waved their hands wildly while telling the latter that they were just talking about stuff to the red head's amusement.

Eventually, the group had arrived at the bridge. As they were talking to the Fleet commander, all three visitors had noticed that almost everyone was still paired up.

Soon the questioning was over and all three headed for the hanger where their mechas lied.

There they had met the young mechanic with short red hair who was paired up with their escort since the day they were born, and I meant that literally too. She was a head shorter than the young man yet a little taller than Hibiki.

The given fact did not matter to her when she had confronted the said young man about attacking potential allies as she had given all of them - a sour drink that is good for their skin.

The girl's name is Seran and she had called her partner, Leader. It was the latter name that the three visitors had some trouble relating too. But since Meia is usually called the same name by other crewmen in the Nirvana, they had later accepted it.

The female mechanic was busy welding the armor of the Vandread left arm that was shot off earlier with Dita watching eagerly. The taller red head had already bandaged the Taraakan's wounded arm.

The young men were about to talk about the girls when klaxons had blared through out the ship.

Thankfully, the gundum was re-fueled early since the ship had an abundance of its vernier fuel in its re-fueling tanks along with the needed helium-3 particles that were also used in the said craft's propulsion systems and serves its power source.

"Dita, stay here with Hibiki for the meantime since your dread's still being refueled." William was saying as he had boarded his gundum. "I'll go in the meantime and hopefully, buy ya some time."

Leader had already running to his fighter just as the alarms were still blaring.

Just after Wing Zero had launched, there was an explosion in the ship's titanium hull a good distance from the three teens.

Still it was powerful enough to knock both girls out of the platform they were leaning on as the mechanic had just finished her repairs to the Vandread.

Hibiki, who had just returned from the his trip to the loo, had also recovered from his sprawl on the metal flight deck and ran back to the bay where his machine was being kept.

"You gals, ok?" The Vanguard pilot said as he had neared the girls who were slowly recovering from their landing on the deck.

"Yeah," Dita said as she had rubbed her sore tush. "Um, this place is too dangerous. Could you please be my co-pilot in my dread, Seran?"

The mechanic was about to decline but since she knew that this flagship would not last longer, she had reluctantly agreed to the red head's suggestion.

After the girls had buckled up, both the yellow Vanguard and the blue dread took off into the chaos outside.

-oOo-

Hibiki, Dita, and Seran had seen that William was already in the thick of the fight as Wing Zero had not only fought cubes but the strange ships that looked like those that they had defeated before.

Leader was leading his flight of space fighters against some more enemies that were approaching the defending fleet's ships.

Oddly enough, most of the enemies were drawn to the gundum so much that the Melanos' ships and its fighter wing were able to further whittle the enemy's numbers with little damage to themselves.

Speaking of the winged gundum, Wing Zero was going every which way but loose as it drew the enemy's attention.

It had also alternated between firing its signature weapon sparingly at long range targets, using its beam saber to slash at more incoming enemies at close range, or using its shoulder cannons to drill its enemies at mid range, all of which while trying to evade incoming fire and shaking off the hits that did get through his defenses.

There were even times that the giant machine had to use its metal shod fists, feet, or even its beam shield to fend for itself since the other weapons were either used up or damaged.

"Dita, we'll have to unite." Hibiki said as soon as he had noticed the biggest Harvest ship he had ever seen. "Hurry."

"Right."

The two machines had combined to form the giant blue mecha that later slashed and blasted the cubes and their mother ships, thereby giving the gundum and the Melanos fleet, a much needed break.

"Thanks, guys." William was saying in the Vanguard's screen when a low moan was heard from below.

"This is kinda uncomfortable," The mechanic was saying as she had lain in the bubble surrounding the cockpit. "Could you finish this quickly?"

"Sure, Seran." Dita said with a slight smile.

The two giant robots had continued their assault towards the three mile long enemy that looked to everyone like a black sea cucumber with yellow trim across its three edges when the said enemy had fired a single red beam that demolished most of Melanos's space fleet in seconds including Leader's craft.

In their anger, both Vandread Dita and Wing Zero had rushed the giant ship only to be blasted away once more with missiles and laser fire.

All of the mecha's occupants had lost consciousness at the force of the surprise attack as the mecha themselves had drifted farther into deep space.

-oOo-

By the time the four humans had woken up, they had found themselves in a large cargo hold that was big enough to even hold a standing Wing Zero and Vanguard.

A large silhouette was seen at the door leading further inside.

"Hmm, so you're awake. Good, since your friends would be very happy for my new freebie." A familiar tenor voice was heard to be saying.

Hibiki was the first to speak up as all their eyes focused on the figure standing before them – Radat.

"This is no time for jokes, Radat." The short pilot said in reply. "We havta warn the Nirvana."

"Warn them?" The older man asked as he had studied the Melanosian girl who was hiding behind Dita. "Of what, may I ask?"

"Of the Harvest Fleet fellows, they've got the biggest mother fuckin' ship in the universe."

"And…"

"Alright, pal. We know that you're hiding somethin'." William said as he had enough of the older green haired man's smirk. "What is it?"

"Now, now William, you shouldn't accuse your host of lying since it is considered bad manners even out here in space." Radat said with a superior smirk at the Filipino who was slowly losing his temper. "So who's the new girl?"

"I am Seran, sir." The Melanosian said with some indignation audible in her tone of voice, after drying her tears.

"Well, Seran. I was wondering how you ended up in the company of these… people."

"Dita had asked me to be her co-pilot."

"Ah," Rabat said before some beeping was heard from the speakers. "Sorry, but we're almost at our destination. Meet ya later."

The taller man ran towards the bridge while the rest had remained where they were.

-oOo-

A half hour later, they were standing in front of the armed troupe that met them in the hatch where Rabat's ship was docked.

Hibiki had wasted no time in passing the troupe by while the others were stopped at their tracks.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita had cried at the receding image of the shorter pilot.

"I'll only talk to the Boss about the enemy," Hibiki shouted back.

As it turned out, only Wiliam and Rabat where thrown in the same holding cell where the gundum pilot and the others were thrown before.

Butan was chasing Pyroro and the girls were being interrogated by the other pirates. Rabat then ordered Bart to give him a massage while they had waited for the Vanguard pilot's arrival.

Hibiki did arrive ten minutes later as he was shoved inside by yet another female armed with a stun rod.

"Well, well. So how did yer talk with the Big Cheese go?" Rabat said teasingly.

"Nowhere," The younger man replied with a sneer. "More than that, the big alien ship we encountered is on its way here accordin' to a report made by Meia and it most likely wants us harvested."

"Hmm, this is quite a pickle that you guys have gone into." Radat said while rubbing his chin.

"You know something 'bout the Harvest, don't you?" The ship's only male doctor said as he too rubbed his chin.

"Yes, I'm actually their sheep dog so to speak." While Rabat was speaking, he took out some sort of remote from his left shoe. "I roam the known universe, making contact with various planets and report my findings back to them. But it isn't part of the deal to be included in the parts list especially those of my sex organs so…see ya."

He then used the remote on the laser bars. The bars had fizzled out and everyone gasped at how easily Radat had disabled their prison as the man himself had ran in the direction of his craft's entry point.

"William, even though the gals wouldn't need our help, let's give it to 'em anyway." Hibiki said as he had raced out of the cell.

"Right, see ya guys later." The gundum pilot said as he chased his younger friend towards the hangers.

Both Duero and Bart had hopped to it as they also headed for their specific stations.

-oOo-

As Hibiki was about to enter the hanger, he was again whisked to the core of the Paeksis Pragma while William had stopped just after the door, puzzled at the Vandread pilot's sudden disappearance.

"Hey, Zero. Where'd Hibiki go?" He yelled to his machine.

"I do not know," The still battered gundum's AI replied. "However, we need to launch quickly as the other pilots are slowly overwhelmed."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

William had finally gotten in the gundum's cockpit behind the mobile suit's green chest orb. He then activated the mobile suit's systems and took off past the opening gate.

-oOo-

Outside, Wing Zero had found itself in one of the biggest rat race it had ever been in since its arrival in this universe.

The first thing it did was to scoop up the pods near the Nirvana and protect them from the enemy's attacks on its way back to the Starship Enterprise looking ship.

It then separated its twin buster rifle and vaporized much of the enemy forces, only to fly away from the fake and green fighter that closely resembled Vandread Jura.

"What the fuck is that thing?!" William had shouted in the tactical net upon seeing the new additions to the enemy fleet. "And I thought Vandread Jura was ugly. That thing's uber-ugly and that's saying somethin' considering its equally ugly friends."

"It's one of the three Vandread copies that showed up just before you launched," Jura answered with a grunt as she had tried to shake off her dread's pursuers. "And mind your language since there are ladies out here."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Also my Vandread's not ugly. It's elegant in its own way."

"Tell that to the marines," The gundum pilot had muttered under his breath but had forgotten to turn off the communication link between Zero and the other ships. He had to smile at the muffled laughter in the tactical net though.

"What was that?"

"Nothin', nothing at all. I'll just take care of your playmates for ya."

Zero had stowed its rifle since William knew that it would be useless against the copy especially with its shield up. So it had flown for a while, dodging dreads and flying ordnance while slashing and piercing surprised cubes (including those that were chasing Jura to her relief) and enemy ships.

In return, the copy had blasted both the dreads and escaping gundum, not minding that it had also destroyed its fellow cubes in the process.

One time, it had even damaged the red copy of Vandread Dita which struck back savagely with its own energy weapons.

This pattern had continued until Zero's pilot was able to trick the chasing copy to nearly crash into a flight of its own allies, causing a sort of fratricide in the ensuing confusion. The gundum then went close enough to pepper the damaged green copy with its machine cannons before escaping once again since the latter ship had put its shield up.

It was around this time that the Vanguard had joined in the fight.

By that time, William had found the Nirvana being slowly drawn to the nearest gaseous planet. He then followed Hibiki and the others as Meia had called for a full retreat.

Zero had nestled itself within the supply ship's shield as they entered the planet's surface on their way to the Nirvana deep inside the planet's interior.

It had already scooped up the other escape pods that were still in space as it had slashed the cubes that were peppering the pods with their own machine guns.

The pods were then stowed in the ship's holds in mid-flight.

One of the three newer enemies who followed them (a red Vandreead Meia look a like) was destroyed by the dense pressure of the planet's gaseous interior.

-oOo-

Within the Nirvana, tensions were at an all time high while morale was at an all time low.

Blames were passed left and right at the poor showing in the last battle as nearly every one had felt helpless at their current plight.

Adding to their problems is the fact that the Paeksis Pragma seemed to be malfunctioning and that the planet they were presently in was slowly growing denser and denser thus adding to the intense pressure that was pounding on the Nirvana's force shield.

And even if they do escape the planet's crushing hold, they still have to fight their way out of the harvest fleet that was waiting for them just beyond the planet's surface.

It went so far as Dita was disheartened at how things had gone. She had locked herself in her room with only Seran and surprisingly, Celtic Midori for company.

The latter girl had already shucked her costume and was wearing her usual uniform of a white blouse, skirt and brown boots.

"I'm sorry, Dita. It was my fault that all of this had even happened," Celtic said as she had bowed to the surprised girls.

The red headed mechanic had placed a hand on the other girl's left shoulder before she said. "Don't blame yourself. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be here talking to you now."

Both girls had hugged each other before comforting the other crying girl who was still speaking in a microphone connected to the ship's PA system. All three girls had a good cry that had touched everyone else in the ship who had heard the words spoken on the public address system.

-oOo-

In the hanger, William had to smile slightly as he had wiped the tears from his brown eyes with his ever present green handkerchief. He then tapped Hibiki's left shoulder before saying. "Don't ever let that treasure of yours go."

The young Taraakan's face had registered surprise then embarrassment at the words spoken. After Hibiki had found his voice, he replied. "Don't worry, I won't."

After the brief exchange, which had almost gone over with Pyroro and Zero's heads, the four of them had then planned their next move as they also went to work on their damaged mecha.

-oOo-

After a series of discussions between the two male pilots, the nav-bot, and the gundum's AI, they had come to a conclusion that their only way they could get out of this sticky situation in one piece was by accelerating the planet's transformation into a star.

This could only be done by igniting the planet's core and releasing the excess energy from the Nirvana's Paeksis. They could also use the resulting explosion to wipe out the enemy in one desperate and decisive blow while stabilizing the Paeksis enough for use.

The only problem was the fact that neither the Vanguard nor the gundum could successfully pull it off by themselves.

That was before they had heard the hanger door hissing its displeasure of being opened once again. In the threshold stood the triumvirate of pilots namely Meia, Jura, Barnette.

The girls had neared the boys who were surprised by their august presence.

"I'm sure that I can help out in the escape part of the plan so that one's crossed out." The Dread squadron leader said with a haughty smirk.

"Glad to have you girls aboard," William retorted in the same manner. "Wonder where Dita is?"

"Here!" said a cheerful voice from the opening doorway. In it had stood the panting Dita Liebly.

"What took ya so long, UFO Girl?" Hibiki said with a warm smile directed at the slowly recovering red head.

"Ok, ok." Barnette said as she had interrupted whatever the Vanguard pilot would have added. "The gang's all here so let's get this plan in the implementation stage."

-oOo-

After the plan was discussed to pretty much everyone in the ship especially Magno and Parfeit, four dread fighters along with two bipedal mechas had launched into the planet's interior.

Along the way, Dita asked Hibiki if he could come into her room after the battle was over. The Taraakan had only replied that he would go there some time. He did not even realize what the consequences of that nearly automatic response would later entail.

Three of the dreads had gone to their specific locations while the remaining dread had combined with the Vanguard.

The gundum had simply followed the newly formed Vandread as it had gone up towards the upper edge of the gaseous planet, its temporary shield up. Once they had left the planet's gaseous surface, the Vandread had remained still as the gundum had fired its now separated signature weapons at the enemy.

The enemy forces were enraged at the significant losses they had entailed from the double salvo and engaged both the Vanguard Jura as well as Wing Zero.

Down below, the other three dreads had fired their lasers at the same time at the core of the planet while the Nirvana had neared it from another angle. One of the dreads had gotten a little off course in the ignition part of the plan. This was immediately noticed in the bridge.

Amara had gone on the command net to say. "Dita, your angle of attack is slowly dipping by three degrees. Please get back on course."

A nervous Dita answered back. "Y-yes, of course."

"Dita, get in the program." Barnette had said in the airwaves. "Jura, Hibiki and William are already getting their butts kicked up there."

"I will," A nearly tearful red head answered.

"Dita," A new voice was heard in the tactical net as Meia's face appeared on the screen in Dita's dread's cockpit monitor.

"Yes, Leader?"

"Keep calm," The blue haired pilot told her. "We can do this."

"Yes, I will do my best."

"Good," Meia said with a tired smile.

-oOo-

Up above, both Vandread Jura and Wing Zero were fighting for their lives against the full armada of the Harvest fleet, complete with a flagship type battle-wagon (the giant sea cucumber I told you earlier).

The Vandread's powerful shields had held even under a blistering rain of shells and other physical or energy attacks made by the various enemy ships surrounding it. The said enemy did have to contend with the darting gundum whose job was to divert their attention away from the Vandread by slowly whittling their numbers down.

"When are they going to finish with whatever they were doin'?" Jura asked as she had winced from each projectile that had met the shield.

"Soon," Hibiki answered as he had kept the shields working and watching the gundum handle the enemy armada all by his lonesome. 'Sorry man, but we're the only ones who can keep the enemy busy while the others do their jobs.'

Thankfully, the signal was sent from the Nirvana about the success of the first phase of their plan.

Vandread Jura had descended into the planet with Wing Zero covering its back with two more well-placed particle beam salvos.

"Thanks for the cover fire," Hibiki said as he had keyed in the radio. "Better join the other dreads since the next part's goin' to be really hot."

"I read ya, ol' buddy." William replied as he had led his gundum on another vector while turning on its own shields. "See ya later."

The Vandread had separated into its two components. Both mechas had quickly engaged its shields as it flew its separate ways.

Jura's dread had followed the transformed Wing Zero and engaged full military power in its escape from the ignited gasses.

The Vanguard, in turn, had combined with Meia's dread that positioned itself just below it.

The newly formed Vandread Meia had zoomed out towards the enemy mother ship, a yellowish stream of superheated gasses in its wake.

In the meantime, both the red dread and Wing Zero had met Barnette's gray dread and all three ships had followed the Nirvana's erratic flight path through the nearby asteroid field. All the while, they were blasting enemy cubes and ships not incinerated by the explosion or demolished by the asteroids.

By the time the Nirvana had slowed down, everyone had watched with bated breath as Vandread Dita was formed and it threw its double-headed energy spear at the enemy mother ship.

The said spear was followed by the stream of gasses to the giant ship's fore side. A large explosion was seen as fire had enveloped the giant black and yellow battle wagon.

Everyone was about to cheer when the said battle wagon had emerged from the fire storm, badly damaged but still full of fight.

More than that, Vandread Dita was also swallowed up by another gaseous stream as it had watched the emerging battleship.

"Zero, how many shots do you have left in the twin buster rifle?" William asked as he had led the gundum to its maximum effective firing range.

"It only has enough power for two more salvos." Zero began. "But for it to completely penetrate the harvest battleship's armor, I may have to divert all of my remaining power to those two specific salvos."

After a brief pause, the AI added. "We will only be left with the vernier thrusters and some emergency battery power to get back to the Nirvana. Also, my fuel sensors indicate that we are almost at what you humans had termed as bingo fuel."

"That would be enough," William was saying as he had gotten the buster rifle leveled at the charging ship. "Bingo fuel, huh? I guess it isn't surprising since I used up most of the fuel in the distraction part of the plan earlier."

"Wait. Don't shoot."

All of them were surprised at the voices that seemed to ring out in the tactical and command net.

Moreover, the Nirvana's situation screen had showed that Vandread Dita was still functioning.

"Leave this thing to us," Hibiki said as the Vandread had merged with the fiery stream and was intent of piercing the ship from fore to stern.

"Yes, please believe in us." Dita added, her voice full of determination

The Vandread then plowed through the enemy battle ship and holed it through and through, much like a fiery javelin in space.

After the giant ship had exploded, Wing Zero then escorted the now separated Vanguard and dread back to the Nirvana, amidst cheers from the other pirates.

As soon as Hibiki, who was the last to deplane, had emerged from his Vanguard's cockpit, he was overwhelmed to see nearly all of the crew plus Seran cheering for him.

Even Jura had pulled Hibiki to a hug and had started kissing him in the right cheek to both Dita's and Barnette's horror.

The red head then grabbed the exhausted pilot and reiterated her earlier request to everyone with earshot.

Some squeals were heard as a few had only smiled and shook their heads in amusement.

After it had taken all of its fighters in, Magno had the Nirvana continue on its way to Mejeera and Taraak since the pirates were already midway towards their objectives as well as their home base.

* * *

I had told you that things had gone FUBAR for this chapter, but like always a miracle comes up to make things better.

In the next chapter, you will find some answers to the important questions, new characters, and a new antagonist specifically made for...you will find out when I post it.

Also, the next chapter is the reason why the rating for this fan fiction is Mature.

With that said, I may now leave for some controlled tests and target practice to sharpen my targeting systems along with my control and flight systems as well.

Until the next chapter, I bid you goodbye.


	7. Lucy, You've Got Some 'Splainin To Do

I am really surprised that that this story had even reached more than a hundred hits considering that it is not even that good. To those who still read this story despite its obvious lack of quality, I offer you my thanks.

Even then, we only have three more chapters including this one before I pen (or type) the final sentence of this story and as such is now nearing the climax, which is a going to be a fight to the finish between the remaining groups of humanity and the devilish Harvest fleets.

In this chapter, I now add two new characters to the hero's side and one to the villain's side as well to even things up a bit.

With all of that said, let us continue this story with the chapter lovingly entitled...

* * *

Chapter 7 – **Lucy, You've got Some 'Splainin ta Do**

Hibiki Tokai had woken up to a recurring dream where most of his friends had died, the Nirvana was destroyed, and that he was too powerless to stop either from happening.

Thankfully, the rest of the males were still sleeping in their own quarters even though he had actually shouted out loud as he woke up.

Both William and Bart were actually snoring the night away when the young Taraakan mechanic and pilot had peaked through their doors.

'Damn, what was that dream 'bout anyway.' Hibiki thought as he had walked slowly towards the hanger.

As soon as he arrived, he had found Dita, Jura, and Meia who were discussing their own dreams with Wing Zero saying something about the Paeksis Pragma sending him some confusing data.

"Whoa, one at a time, please." Hibiki said as he had tried to understand what everyone else was saying above the din.

All of them then discussed the events in each of their dreams only to find out that they seem to be somewhat similar. It turned out they had the same dream, only through their own viewpoints.

In the said dream, they were defending the Nirvana as usual when red beams had hit Vandread Dita and also immobilized its systems. Both Meia and Jura were about to help when the same beam had hit them too.

The other girls' dreads were completely destroyed and their lifeless bodies were floating among the debris. Other dreads were also being destroyed by yellow plasma beams shot from nearly everywhere.

Both Hibiki's and Dita's first thought was that William had gone amuck once again due to the ZERO system's influence.

It was only when they had seen the remains of the winged gundum and the strange machine that looked remarkably similar to Wing Zero, except for its jagged edges and color, did they realize that another copy was made.

The gundum copy was annihilating the other dreads and the Nirvana with all of its weapons.

The Vandread had tried to blast them only to bits only for its crystal like cannons to suddenly dim as it had lost all power and was later destroyed by both the red beams and the new ship.

"Zero, any idea on what the Paeksis was trying to tell you?" Meia had thought to ask the gundum's AI as she had remembered that the said AI also had something to say about the subject after the pilots had narrated the dream to the confused Zero.

"Negative, Miss Gibson." The massive machine had responded in his external speakers. "It was much like unlinked bits and bytes put together haphazardly. In other words, it is similar to what you would term as gibberish."

"Since this is gettin' us nowhere, I suggest that we go to sleep and figure this one out in the mornin'." Jura said before making a yelp at a sudden pain in her head.

The others were concerned at the blonde's action but she had waved them away as she left the hanger and said "Good night".

"Jura's right, Leader. We can leave this one until after breakfast if we can get the time." Dita added before yawning herself. "Mr. Alien, would you like to escort me to my room?"

"I'm sorry, Dita but I'm too tired right now." Hibiki said just as he was about to leave the hanger. "Maybe tomorrow would be better. G'night, guys."

"Hmph," Dita grunted in response. "Good night, every one."

"Good night," Meia and Zero replied before the other the blue haired girl had also exited and leaving the gundum to go into sleep mode.

-oOo-

Out in the hallways, Dita had tried to follow the Taraakan youth in the hope that he would change his mind.

Instead, the young man had stopped walking to his room and told her that he needed some time to sort out his feelings as he had whirled on her.

The Mejerran girl had understood and quickly left for her room with a puzzled Hibiki wondering what he had said wrong.

Neither pilot had known that both Meia and Paiway were watching them from a nearby corner.

Paiway was about to point out to the dread leader that this sort of relationship was not good for Dita when Pyroro suddenly came in between them, hiccupping as he does so.

The slighted reporter and nurse had pulled the egg like machine for some well deserved tongue lashing leaving behind a mystified pilot in their wake.

'Things here are getting weirder and weirder everyday,' Meia thought as she too headed for her quarters before making a double take. "Isn't it too early for Paiway to be up and around?"

-oOo-

About six hours later, the other three men had just woken up and were discussing about women in general in the doctor's bedroom.

Bart was asking the Filipino on what girls were like in general in the latter's time period and William had given as much information as he could.

It was while he was explaining that gundum pilot had noticed something about the book that the ship's doctor was reading.

"Hey, Duero. What's that book about?"

"It is about how men and women work together to make a newborn baby," The doctor replied with a smug grin.

"Ok," The gundum pilot said as he had suddenly stood up and left. "I'll be workin' on Zero in the meantime. See ya later, guys."

"Hey Duero, is the book your holding that interesting?"

Once again, the doctor replied with a creepy smile. "It is verry interesting."

This had made the navigator shudder in response as he also stood up. "Ah, ah. I think the captain's calling me. Bye."

Hibiki did not even ask any questions as he headed for his own quarters for a little cat nap after making a brisk walk in the ship's hallways to make him sleepy again after yet another nightmare.

-oOo-

Hours later, both Hibiki and William were working at the registry with the former mumbling about something as he had double and triple checked the inventory. The latter had given their nearby superior a puzzled look.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Willy." Gascogne said with a smirk. "He's jus' wondering why he was supposed to be in a certain red haired pilot's room right now!"

"Not funny, ma'am." Hibiki said with emphasis on the ma'am part. He then asked for permission from the elder registrar since he and William would take a needed coffee break.

"Sure, things are a bit slow anyways in your respective roles anyway," The green haired registrar said with a nod. "Have fun, boys."

As soon as the two young men left, she had turned to the other members of her staff.

"Alright, girls; I want to see all equipment in order so when things get busy, we'll be ready. So chop chop and remember to..."

Her staff had remembered their strict training and replied quickly. "Smile, smile."

-oOo-

"So what's up back there, Hibiki?" William said as they had walked down the hallways towards the ship's mess hall. "If it's 'bout what you and Dita would be discussin' in her room, then just be natural and talk about whatever you guys like to talk about."

With a small smile, Hibiki had thanked his taller friend and added that it was actually the dream he had shared with the girls that was spooking him.

But before Hibiki could continue, they had met Ezra who had asked them to accompany her to the clinic.

With a shrug at each other, they had accepted and all three headed for the clinic on another level in the ship.

While the expecting brunette mother or femme was inside the clinic, Hibiki had continued his story while sipping on a Styrofoam cup of coffee.

William had found himself intrigued by what he himself would call as a dream sequence and asked his friend on what would have triggered them as he too sipped his own cup of coffee.

"William, all four of us were drawn into some kind of energy ball that looks suspiciously like the Paeksis Pragma when the Nirvana was formed." A bedroom voice from their right had told them. "Of course, Hibiki here must have told you that already."

Both teens had looked at their right to see the amused look of Jura that was suddenly replaced by one of pain as she had suddenly clutched her forehead.

"How's about you guys let me in since this migraine is killin' me."

The guys had let the blonde pilot in while Hibiki finished his story.

William had rubbed his chin with his gloved right hand as he mentally turned over the possibility of another enemy weapon that could nullify the Vandread's own abilities.

Both young men then escorted the operator to her station on the bridge before heading for their mechas for some needed maintenance work, disposing their spent cups along the way.

They had not even reached midway to their goal when the alarms were again blaring for their attention.

-oOo-

According to BC, the assembled pilots' job was to take an escape pod back to the Nirvana as soon as possible. All of them had quickly ignited their thrusters as they headed for the floating pod.

Gascogne had already used her ship's steel claws to pick up the pod when three large shapes were detected by their radar as they had neared the Nirvana.

Suddenly, they were attacked by a multitude of cubes that were more agile then their predecessors. The new cubes' irregular shape were also helpful in deflecting laser beams but were still vulnerable to melee and projectile attacks.

The pod was blasted from the supply ship's claws and a mad chase for the said pod ensued.

One time, Wing Zero had taken hold of the said pod when a massive plasma bolt had slammed it from behind; leaving a blacked spot where the beam had hit the gundum's back just below its thrusters.

Thankfully, the winged gundum did not let go of its booty even while some cubes tried to shoot it down. Plus its rear thrusters were also coated with gundaminium so any hit on it would not damage it thoroughly.

"Dammit, where's that motherfucker hidin'?" William was saying as he had turned the gundum around in a half circle.

Its signature weapon had also been moved in a wide arc while decimating the cubes around it with the now visible shoulder cannons.

The massive machine's head was also twisting to track down the offending beam's source.

Its gold V fins was sending out radio waves to track down any craft other than the dreads and the Nirvana.

It then displayed its results in the half-sphere before William in a three dimensional radar screen. William was intently scanning it as well as the screen about his eye level.

"William, it appears to be a copy of my physical self." Zero said as its eye cameras finally focused on the dark shape hovering about fifteen kilometers away from the gundum itself. "Exercise extreme caution in dealing with it."

"Right," Its pilot responded as Wing Zero had neared the hovering Vanguard. "Hibiki, take this pod and head to the Nirvana pronto. I'll take care of this goon."

"Alright, you be careful too."

-oOo-

After Wing Zero had jetted off to pursue its quarry, the Vanguard was tackled by three cubes and the chase was on again.

Only when Jura's dread had combined with Hibiki's Vandread did the pod stay in one location while everyone else was in the thick of a massive dogfight.

Yet when a crimson ray that nearly crippled Meia's dread had hit Vandread Jura, the two mechas had separated instantly.

Dita had to make her dread combine with the Vanguard so they could recapture the again stolen pod.

It was then that the crimson ray's source was seen – a harvest ship that looked like a manta ray.

It had fired another burst of red energy at Vandread Dita that only hit the huge robot's right arm, crippling it instantly.

-oOo-

In the meantime, the Nirvana was also under attack by cubes since most of its dread fighters were pulled out from the battle field before the cubes themselves were blasted to atoms by the dueling Wing Zero and its fearsome copy.

Both gundum and harvest copy were using its armaments fiercely resulting in some losses from both sides, especially the salvos from the fired twin buster rifles.

They had also used their planet defenders to keep themselves from getting the brunt of the powerful beams that were fired at each other.

After awhile, Zero then used its beam saber to engage its copy in swordplay in the hopes that the latter may expose some of its weaknesses while keeping the other dreads safe from their duel.

William did use the opportunity to use some surprised cubes as his mecha's temporary cover to further increase its distance from the enemy gundum look alike and slash a few more on its own initiative.

This was enough for the cubes themselves to be further decimated to only a few groups before they themselves had made a hasty retreat.

Thankfully, Gascogne had played ambulance as her ship had picked up the escape pods of the destroyed dreads in the battlefield.

-oOo-

"Damn, this guy's keepin' us busy long enough fer that other ship to creep up on us." William was saying as he was feeling tired of jostling with the controls just to keep up with its enemy's wild movements.

"It would seem that this copy was created solely for the purpose of dealing with us and that purpose only," Zero replied as it had scanned their enemy's weak spots (if any) with its Search Eye so it could inform them to its pilot. "Other than what seems to be a more primal style of attacks, there seemed to be no other weakness that we can use to our advantage. The harvest fleet has studied us well."

"Yeah, we'll have ta come up with more tactics to keep 'em guessing on our next battle." William said in agreement as he had wiped some sweat of his brow when the red and black copy suddenly broke off the battle and escaped in Neo Bird mode. "Wonder what made 'im change his mind?"

The real reason that the copy had broken off from its fight with the gundum was that Hibiki had earlier made a minor miracle when his will had empowered the Vandread from certain defeat and destruction.

He and Dita then proceeded to destroy the manta ray like craft with their Vandread's crystal-like tonfa and fired a single beam that holed the ship through.

This was done while the gundum and its copy were still slashing each other on the other side of the battlefield.

After regrouping, Vandread Dita had cradled the pod in its massive arms and headed back home along with the others.

-oOo-

William had arrived just in time to see a blue haired girl hugging a panicking Hibiki and hear Dita's scream.

He had looked to his right to see that Paiway was scribbling frantically in her notebook while mumbling about pai-checks and premonitions about battles.

'Oh boy, I sure am glad that I'm not Hibiki.' William had thought grimly as he finally saw the face off between the newcomer and the red head. It was by this time that Duero had called him over and introduced him to the girl.

The blue haired visitor had looked at the gundum pilot and said that he looked a little different with regards to the rest.

William was about to shrug his shoulders when he had noticed a yellow shape on the girl's (Misty Cornwell) shoulder. "Is that a hologram…?"

"Why, yes it is." Misty answered with an impish smile. "Hmm, you **are** different than all of the others here except for that red headed girl with pale skin. So where are ya from?"

Duero had cleared his throat meaningfully before telling the newcomer that William would be escorting her to her bed in the infirmary and that it was best that he would also answer all of her questions there.

The crowd had thinned out significantly since they had better things to do.

Hibiki had by then let out his breath and headed for gym to work out his stress with Seran following him.

Dita headed for the mess hall with Ezra for some "stress management" of her own.

What Dita really meant was that she and Ezra would be eating some cake and other pastries to calm the fuming red head as told by the operator herself to the inquisitive gundum pilot, only days after.

-oOo-

As soon as Misty was lying on the bed in a hospital gown, William then told her the same answer that he had given Paiway only months before.

The young nurse herself, who was studying the slightly older girl's vital signs, was still not that convinced but since the older pilot would not give away the all important information too easily; she did not try to pry it from him.

William then said his goodbyes as he too headed for the gym for some hand to hand combat lessons from both Barnette and Gascogne.

Along the way, he had almost collided with a running Celtic who was looking for her friend, Seran.

"Celtic, she's in the gym with Hibiki and the others." The Filipino answered calmly even while he was picking himself up from the floor with a little help from the amused blue haired operator.

Seconds earlier, William had used his right foot to skid himself to a stop but ended up toppling over and colliding with the nearby wall in the process. "I'm already on my way there right now."

So, the two ran towards the gym with Celtic in the lead despite of the Filipino's longer strides.

When they did arrive, they only found Barnette aggressively training the Melanosian in self defense with Gascogne supervising the match from the sidelines.

"Hey, where's Hibiki?" William asked as Celtic had sat on the nearest thread mill to the other two girls and watched the sparring session.

"He got a lil' hungry in the middle of our match so he headed fer the cafeteria," the elder registrar answered with her usual grin. "Wanna spar?"

Before the word yes escaped William's mouth, the lights had turned off and the faithful hum of paeksis powered machinery had gone silent.

Then a quieter hum of the Nirvana's auxiliary generators where heard as they were activated.

"Damn, power's out." Gascogne said with a sigh. "I'm sure that Meia's gonna be askin' for the gates to open so she can start her patrol so…"

"I'm on it," William said since he had correctly guessed the registrar's unspoken request. "How 'bout you, Barnette?"

"Uh-uh," the brunette answered as she had sat down on an exercise bike and wiped the sweat of her face. "I have to get my dread ready first. Besides, I'll also have to lead the rest when the dread squadrons do take off."

"I read ya," William said as he had taken off towards the hanger. "Bye."

Seran was so surprised at what had happened so she had asked Gascogne. "Does he do this often?"

The older woman had smiled widely before putting a gloved hand on the smaller girl's frail shoulder. "Only when he need's to."

-oOo-

As the elder registrar had predicted, Meia had requested for an opened gate and took off once the gate was opened by means of the ship's limited auxiliary power.

There was little illumination throughout the ship including the navigation lights that the dreads would follow in their later take off and landings.

To save what little auxiliary power that was left in the Nirvana's back up generators; Wing Zero had to slide open the rear gate (that it later closed) manually with its massive arms before it too had taken off for a short patrol off the Nirvana's starboard side and aft.

Both the dread and gundum had their scanners run through the nearby empty sector of space.

It was not too long when they had radioed the bridge of the nearing enemy forces who then sounded general quarters.

-oOo-

In the meantime, Hibiki was stuck in the elevator along with Ezra and Dita.

The Taraakan youth was trying his best to keep his cool even though he had wished that he was outside slashing cubes.

He was having a confusing conversation with Duero since he and Dita had ended up having to deliver Ezra's baby.

Things had gotten a bit hairy while Duero was trying to relate the incoming information with the information from his newly gotten book about childbirth.

Magno was slowly losing her own temper as the doctor had grown too reliant on his book to give the needed judgment calls and advice that the trapped crewmen had needed the most.

-oOo-

Back outside, the cubes were slowly whittled to a manageable number when a sudden wave of plasma had broken the formation of Jura's squadron.

A few of the dreads had their wings sheared by the sudden blast and had to turn back.

"I gotta admit this guy's really persistent," William said as he had popped in a CD in its portable player and put on two earplugs. "Alright, pal. Let's see how you'll deal with this."

"William, what are you doing?" The AI said as its cockpit camera had registered its pilot's strange action.

"I'm gonna get myself pumped up with some Anime OSTs and show this guy some new moves," The Filipino responded as he had tucked away the player to his right pocket. 'This one's for you, Ezra. I won't let you or the others down, I swear it.'

"Alright, but do not blame me if we get caught unawares."

"I won't, Zero." William said tersely as he had pushed the play button. "Believe me, I won't."

-oOo-

While Zero was busy handling its copy far away from the Nirvana, two more ships had moved in and punctured two of the Nirvana's "wings" before trying to pull it somewhere.

Meia had led one flight of the dreads towards one of the ships while instructing Jura and Barnette to lead the rest to the second ship.

Both enemies were destroyed by the lasers shot by the nimble fighters as the latter had evaded the newly ejected cubes.

Wing Zero's doppelganger had seen the destruction of its fellow ships and made its escape as it had avoided the various beams fired from the original's separated buster rifles.

-oOo-

Back at the Nirvana, Magno had taken hold of the situation and gave the needed advice to the trapped crewman.

Even then, Hibiki had lost his nerve when he saw the emerging head from Ezra's lubricated vagina.

This was why he switched places with Dita who had successfully delivered the baby.

The baby's cries were heard through out the ship and suddenly all of Nirvana's power and navigation systems had gone back online.

The news was also carried out to the various tired pilots who were now returning to the Nirvana as well.

Even William had turned off his CD player and pulled out his spent earplugs as soon as the AI had picked up the excited transmissions.

The Filipino's plan had almost worked since the gundum pilot was more mentally and emotionally pumped up but he still ended up not hearing some important audio warning signals and his mecha had suffered for it.

"Sorry, Zero." William said with a trace of anger at himself. "I promise that I'll do better 'n the future."

"I know you will, William." The AI replied in a placating manner. "Now let us head for home."

-oOo-

Hibiki had by then moved Ezra to a more comfortable position and now stood at Dita's side.

As soon as he had seen the newly born little one's face, Hibiki did the one thing he had never done before – he fainted.

A cheerful voice from the elevator's speakers had told them that the power has been restored and that they would now haul them up to the correct floor.

There was an unmistakable sound of gears and rivets failing completely and the elevator car fell through its shaft.

It was then lifted up by an unseen force that turned out to be somehow turbocharged Pyroro who had lifted the elevator back up and stopping at the floor where the other girls and William were waiting.

Hibiki had enough strength to say – "Too much excitement for one day," before fainting once again.

A chuckling William then half carried his friend to their quarters after saying his congratulations to the women for a successful delivery and Pyroro for one hell of a rescue.

-oOo-

Along the way, the tired duo had once again met Seran who said that it was a virus from the data cube that Misty had carried which caused the shutdown of the whole ship and that the baby's cries had somehow made things back to normal.

After depositing Hibiki at his bed, William then listened to the message on the data cube that was broadcasted through out the ship's PA system.

His round face had reddened with both anger and disgust at how his own kind had gone mad just to satisfy their instincts of self preservation.

"Fuck the Earth and its inhabitants," William said to himself as he had punched the wall in his fury. "I swear I'll break those harvest guys in half if they even lay their filthy claws on another human."

After realizing that he may have awakened the Taraakan in his brief show of emotions, the gundum pilot had left the room and headed for the gym to work out his stress in the best way he could get – doing some katas that were taught to him by his teacher and boss, Gascogne.

-oOo-

A few hours later and after freshening up, William had gone to the clinic to make a little visit to the sleeping mother and child.

What he had found was a grinning Paiway, a shocked Pyroro and Dita, and a knocked out Hibiki complete with blood rushing out of his nose.

'This is gettin' to be really weird,' William thought as he had watched Dita gently slap Hibiki awake while listening to the machine gun questioning of Misty who did not give up her personal probe on him.

'I wanna go back to my own time and head home,' the gundum pilot mentally added in despair.

-oOo-

A week later, the Nirvana had docked on a desolated planet where every living thing is sick.

A contingent composed of Gascogne, Barnette, Duero, Paiway and Seran had gone planet side to give whatever cure to the struggling people.

A technical team with Parfait in charge had also gone down in the hopes that they can restore the planet's ecological balance.

The said balance was destroyed by the introduction of destroyed paeksis pragma particles that made the planet what it is at the present.

Pyroro was also sent in and he was also linked up to Wing Zero's communication link while the gundum itself was doing some patrols outside of the planet's atmosphere with Meia's dread.

The gundum's AI was doing the calculations for the engineer's benefit even though it could not factor in the paeksis' conditions. Its pilot was busy manning the scanners as he had continued his patrol.

"That's ok, Zero." Parfeit had said as she continued to adjust the energy systems. "We couldn't do it either. Give my regards to William for me, will ya?"

"Understood," came the brief reply. "Zero out."

-oOo-

Vandread Jura was also hovering in the same place as it tried to keep the fragile ecological balance in place high above the whole colony.

Bart had also asked for some time off the ship. He had spent the said time off telling stories to a little girl named Becky.

The brown haired girl was bedridden for almost all of her life since a strange sickness had paralyzed her as a baby.

Things were not going smoothly since the engineers still had not made a decent shield for the colony and Parfeit was already pretty frustrated with the whole situation.

Duero was also getting frustrated in his own end since whatever cure he could give out to the ailing people was only temporary.

Only Bart seemed to be enjoying the time he spent in the planet as the young girl continued to be enthralled with his stories.

-oOo-

Up above, Hibiki was muttering curses under his breath as was relegated to standby status as he and Jura still held the shield over the planet aloft throughout the battle.

What made things worse for him was the fact that the blonde Mejeeran was creeping him out with her talk about making a baby.

Even Dita and Misty had gotten into the argument which forced Hibiki to call on William to help him out.

"Girls, this is no time fer foolishness." William said as he knew Meia would be listening in as well. "We've got to keep our focus on what's important. Besides, I know Hibiki enough to know that he couldn't do it even if he wanted to."

"Very funny, Willy. Ha ha." Hibiki said before abruptly cutting the lines of communication and ignoring the blonde's laughter from behind him.

-oOo-

Everything had changed to the worst when a Harvest ship had arrived to pick up the dead bodies from the planet for their own examinations.

With it were the same harvest craft that had continued to antagonize the gundum and its pilot as well as its own squadron of cubes.

This was so that larger ship could do its job without any interruption.

Hibiki and Jura were really tired in holding the Vandread's shields for three straight days. This fact had become apparent when the blond Mejeeran was falling asleep on the panicking Taraakan.

This, in spite of the panicked transmissions from the pilots currently engaged in the raging battle outside.

The result was that the shield that was covering the planet (or a significant portion of it) was flickering as its power levels waned.

A disabled and burning cube had gone through the flickering shield and later crashed near the colony.

Parfait and the other engineers were shocked at the sudden explosion that thankfully was a good distance away from them.

Even then, a certain brown haired girl was awakened by the shock waves that were generated by the said explosion.

She tried to reach her still incomplete doll only to fall unconscious. The fallen doll had triggered the alarm that made Duero and the others come to her maker's aid.

Still it was too late for them to save Becky's life as she had used the last of her life energy to try and complete the doll that was made in the image of Bart.

-oOo-

Bart had arrived in the room where Rebecca was kept as fast as he could but even then he was too late.

"Duero, you have to save Becca. She's only a little girl for god's sake."

"I'm sorry, but we tried everything in our power but it was just not enough." The Taraakan doctor said as he had tried to keep his voice even.

"There's gotta be something we can do. How 'bout you transfer her sickness to me?" Bart was positively frantic now. "I can take it."

"Bart!" Duero said as he had grabbed the smaller man's shoulders roughly. "There is nothing we can do since Rebecca has been sick since birth. I'm sorry."

"**No**, there **is** something I can do and by Grandpa's will, I'll do it."

The helmsman then ran out the door and joined Barnette and Gascogne in the now powering up shuttle.

-oOo-

By the time Barnette and Gascogne had joined the battle outside, the bridge crew was shocked at the sudden light coming from behind them.

The light had faded out to reveal a determined Bart and he immediately jumped into his station without fanfare, ignoring the shocked looks from everyone else in the bridge.

The battle around the Nirvana was intensifying with Zero and his counterpart chasing each other around the battlefield itself.

Bart's anger had turned nova when he saw that all of his friends and fellow crew members were still not able to defeat the Harvest ships.

It was his empowered will that another miracle was made as the various turrets through out the Nirvana's superstructure had burst out of their Paeksis shells and fired at the same time.

Almost of all of the friendly pilots had resigned themselves to their fate when the beams suddenly curved away from them and hit the enemy instead.

Even the Dark Wing Zero, as the crew had called the black and red copy of the gundum, was hit hard by the beams and was destroyed completely.

The Harvest ship was then hit by all of the converging beams and was also destroyed.

Hibiki had even remarked tiredly that finally Bart had proved himself to be a real man.

-oOo-

Bart did not say anything to the surprised pilots as he ran back to the shuttle on its way back to the planet's arid surface.

All of the pilots had mixed feelings when they saw the blonde helmsman who was trying to keep himself from crying.

"Wonder what happened down there ta make Bart cry like that?" Hibiki said to his fellow pilots as they headed for their rooms.

"I'll ask him later," William said as he had tried to keep himself upright as he walked with Hibiki back to their rooms. "Whatever it is, it shocked him to the core. I mean, he'd never been this emotional before."

Everyone taken their own baths before some needed cat naps since the battle had taken a lot out of them.

-oOo-

Down below, Bart was sitting on top of the structure where Becca asked him to be taken too. He was staring at the horizon, not minding anything around him.

He only turned around with a start when a croaking voice to him to let all of his emotions out in the open.

Only then did Bart let out all of his anguish in the forms of tears and loud sobs as he embraced the quiet and patient Magno.

His sobs were actually loud enough to be heard from miles away much like a lone wolf that howled at the full moon.

-oOo-

When the Nirvana had pulled out its manpower since Parfeit had made a temporary shield just big enough for one bed back in the planet, William and the others were surprised to see a bald headed helmsman emerge from his room.

"Bart, what's with the bald look?!" Hibiki asked in shock. Duero's expression had ranged from initial shock to understanding that did not escape William's notice.

"Hibiki, I just kept a promise to a young friend of mine." Bart replied as he headed for the bridge, ignoring the titters from the girls that he had passed by. "Ask Duero for the details."

Duero had simply smirked at the puzzled looks from both pilots before saying. "It's just like you have said earlier after the battle, Hibiki. Bart's a real man now."

"Heh, seem's like we're kickin' ass ev'n if we did not intend to." The Vanguard pilot said with a grin. "Let's see what paths fate had opened up fer us."

* * *

I actually feel sorry for Garsius as he was made the comic relief of the show, thus when it was his turn to shine, I actually applauded. I guess that is human nature at its best - "when the proverbial chips are down, someone stands up to rally the rest and becomes a hero".

(wipes some coolant that seemed to have come from my laser eyes) I seem to be needing even more maintenance to my systems so I will see you once again in the next chapter where heroism comes with a heavy price.

Farewell for now.


	8. The Crap Had Just Hit the Fan

Like I had warned last chapter, this one has character death so if you are iffy on that particular subject, please wait for one more week for the next chapter.

Yet, this chapter like the others before it, has moments of humor interspersed with moments of drama along with plenty of action.

Also for every death, there is a corresponding birth and this one is a big one figuratively and literally.

For CMRosa, thank you for the author alert, and I hope that you would appreciate this chapter even with the above warning.

Before I add even more spoilers, let us start this chapter that (in)correctly entitled...

* * *

Chapter 8 – **The Crap had Just Hit the Fan**

A week after the Nirvana had left the desolated planet; the Majeeran space pirates then found a midsized space station in obvious disrepair through their long range surveillance systems.

In the meeting room, Magno had called her two top lieutenants to discuss their plan of action. BC had suggested that they make a brief stop over at the said station.

Gascogne had vehemently disagreed since they may find themselves in the same situation as before when they had met Rabat for the first time.

After much deliberation, the pirate chief had decided to talk with the station first before making any aggressive action against it.

-oOo-

The Nirvana had sent a signal previously used in the Mission days to the station which was received and replied to.

"Hmm, radio signals similar used to old Exploration days." A bald and stocky man was saying to the crew of the Nirvana's bridge. "I wonder what kinda hicks are ya to use that outdated technology."

The bridge crew had muttered among themselves about males having as much manners as they have hair. Bart did add that he had taken slight offense to that statement, which only Ezra had apologized to.

"Pardon our simple technology but we want to ask permission to dock to your station," BC said as coolly as she could without betraying any emotion. "We would like to re-supply and rest even for a little while."

"How 'bout if we refuse, since we've got enough trouble as it is." The station manager retorted as if trying to rile BC up. "Around here, the only requirement to live here is to survive long enough to be accepted by us."

"We've got plenty of technical people and equipment to help you fix your station," BC replied without being perturbed.

The bald man seemed to be speaking from someone off screen before giving his facial assent to the docking. "Alright, but we won't be responsible if any of you'se yahoos git hurt."

"That's alright. We're space pirates, so we can handle ourselves just fine."

Bart was complimenting BC for her cool head when the second in command herself had asked him to dock the Nirvana to the station.

Bart had sweated buckets even though he had assured the vice commander that it would be a piece of cake since he had been trained for it in officer's school.

-oOo-

As the pirate ship was nearing the nondescript station, BC had gathered the necessary people for the visit in the Mission station itself.

The core of the said crew was made up of herself, Gascogne, Pyroro, and Parfeit. Barnette and Jura were added for the security detail.

The green haired young woman was already packing up her formidable arsenal of antique weapons that she had a chance to show off to the impressed gundum pilot, only the day before.

Hibiki had also expressed his interest in joining since he could also "handle the rough stuff".

To add to the confusion, Dita had also volunteered herself and William as additional security to the landing party via the communication screen in the hanger.

"Dita, I'm already doin' short range patrols out here with you right now." William said with a grimace. "I cannot come with them since who'll be left patrolling anyway?"

In his mind, the gundum pilot would rather not have a repeat of what had happened the last time they had gone in a Mission type space station. His annoyed face was also seen in the same screen next to Dita's happy one.

"Sorry, Willy but you're definitely comin' with us." Gascogne said with a crooked smile.

She knew that the gundum pilot had a hard time in their first encounter with Rabat and his pet orangutan the first time he was forced to join in this kind of mission.

The green haired Registrar cheif then thought that it would be the perfect time for the gundum pilot to use his newly learned skills in unarmed (and armed) combat in the field.

"I'm sure you'll learn somethin' important in this little field trip," she added with a teasing grin.

"Alright, ma'am." William said before cutting the link with a heavy sigh.

BC had mirrored the gundum pilot's sigh before saying. "It's much better to bring those three along rather then leaving them here in the ship."

Both Gascogne and Pyroro could only nod their heads while saying "True, true" in perfect sync.

Hibiki then neared them as he had asked. "You said somthin', ma'am?"

A trio of sighs was heard from the two older women and the nav-bot.

-oOo-

Later, the bright red shuttle that was carrying the landing party and the yellow Vanguard headed for the space station while being flanked by both Dita's blue dread and Wing Zero in Neo Bird mode.

As they neared the station, BC had ordered Dita, Hibiki, and William to use the other docking ports while they headed for the nearest one in front of them.

Both dread, Vanguard, and gundum then headed for the aforementioned docks as ordered. Later, the landing party had gone further in with BC and Gascogne in the point position after meeting up in the main hallway leading in.

They were followed by Parfait and Pyroro. The pilots had stayed in the rear to prepare for a sudden attack from further in

Their first obstacle was a hatch that was electronically locked. Parfeit had done her magic by successfully getting the correct codes that she had typed in the electronic lock number pad.

Barnettte had given one of her hand guns along with its waist holster to William since she could trust the Filipino with a pistol although William himself was feeling a little scared.

The truth was the closest William had gotten to handling any type of firearm was when he had played with BB guns in his preteen years.

Barnette had only trusted him because when they had practiced in the virtual shooting range since his aim was good enough for her standards.

William's fear had come to the fore when the hatch had opened to reveal about forty men who were armed with crude weapons like rakes, brooms, and even shovels.

The dark green haired pilot had to scare them off with her Colt.45 pistol so that a path could be made further in.

-oOo-

All of the landing party was feeling the hair on their necks stand up as they had walked in single file through the station's wide hallways since the said station's occupants looked rough.

Although, there were also instances when a worried mother had clutched her little ones while the said little ones themselves had tried to get closer to the strangers.

A brave little girl with long brown hair that was curved in two ends had actually stood in front of Hibiki, Dita, William, and Pyroro, making the foursome be separated from the rest as they all stopped.

The annoyed Taraakan then impolitely asked the girl who was the latter looking at, which the girl had mimicked to nearly everyone's amusement.

The Filipino had to clutch both of his perturbed friend's shoulders before saying. "Hold on 'der, Hibiki. She's only a kid, y'know."

He then knelt down to the child's level before adding. "I apologize fer what my friend did earlier. He's actually a pretty nice guy once ya get to know him."

"Alright, but that doesn't mean I'll be nice to him." The girl had answered with her arms akimbo.

"I'm cool with that," William said as he had stood up and absently ruffled the girl's brown hair which the girl did not even object to.

Seeing the strange stares that were directed at him, the Filipino pilot had exclaimed while trying not to keep his blood from rushing to his face. "What're ya standing around here for, let's go."

The amused pirates then continued forward, leaving behind their snickering audience as the whole atmosphere had gotten lighter all of a sudden.

-oOo-

After thirty minutes of walking, the landing party had come upon what seemed to be a stairway leading to a raised platform.

It was here they had met the bald "station manager" in the bridge's main screen who has introduced himself as Patch.

After brief introductions were made, Patch had led them up the stairway and further in the station.

Along the way, the team had to contend with hoot calls from the men standing on both sides of the pathway.

Patch had by then led them to an open space surrounded by what seemed to be bleachers of a sort.

At the farthest wall from the entrance, a black haired woman about BC's age had looked down on them from her throne.

Beside the woman was the bald headed "station manager" that they had talked to earlier.

The woman had mocked the landing party by saying that they could only be taken seriously if they had won a five on five death match.

Hibiki had already expressed his excitement for participating in the battle when BC said that a one on one fight between the leaders would be more appropriate for the situation.

This had angered the apparent leader so much that she had taken off her worn cloak and told everyone the ground rules for the coming fight.

BC then angered the woman further by telling her that she had come to the arena to fight not to talk as she produced a bullwhip from behind her.

The match was on.

-oOo-

The woman had started the battle by jumping from her velvet covered steel "throne" a good twenty feet up and throwing knives at the pirate's vice captain.

BC had evaded the projectiles so that all of them had rebounded from the floor in various directions before falling to rest on in different places on the arena.

The white haired woman then used her whip to strike her opponent who just landed on the arena floor.

The other woman had evaded the strikes like a professional dancer and used her drawn laser sword to slash at BC.

BC's opponent also threw more knifes with only one grazing the vice-captain's left cheek.

A trickle of blood had fallen from the said wound before the dark skin had regenerated enough to close the cut completely.

BC smiled as she had again went on the offensive, her whip had caught the remaining knives and had used the knives to strike back.

The woman had to evade her own weapons before retreating altogether to gain some time to recover her bearings.

The vice captain had chased her only to be blocked by a concrete wall that was not there a second ago. The rest of the party had seen the bald man known as Patch pushing a button in a hidden panel within a hallway below the throne.

Most of the visitors had protested at the dirty trick only to be ignored and heckled back by the growing crowd.

Barnette had even drawn her favorite Colt automatic pistol before everyone nearby had to wrestle the said weapon away its owner on their way to the concrete floor in a tangle of limbs.

-oOo-

Back at the arena, the woman saw that BC had fallen to the ground and was about to finish her off when a bullet passed between her and the fallen Majeeran and made a new hole in the concrete floor.

Everyone had looked up to see a smiling Rabat holding a smoking pistol in his right hand on top of the stands' stairs.

The self-made entrepreneur was showing his ever present smirk when he said. "Hey, Patch. How about givin' us some honest to goodness entertainment here as well as a glass of yer best wine."

Patch grumbled as he had moved from his place near the corridor wall where the switches for the arena's traps were located as he had closed the panel.

It was around this time that the green haired wanderer had spotted a now familiar set of individuals.

From where he stood, Rabat could see the seething Hibiki and William glaring back at him along with the calmer Gascogne and BC. As for the rest, they were either simply surprised or just plain ignored him.

BC was being escorted by the registrar and Parfeit as the vice-captain had just missed being slashed by the station's real administrator - Liz.

It was around that time that Gascogne was contacted by the bridge for the coming attack from the Harvest ships.

-oOo-

At the register's urging, Buzam had assigned each of the landing party to their specific missions.

Both Gascogne and Parfeit would lead the civilians to the safest place in the space station, the control room according to Patch who had herded the panicking survivors near them.

Buzam, Jura, and Barnette would cover them from the advancing enemy that had already entered the station's walls.

The remaining members (Dita, Hibiki, and William) would have to find their way back to the ships to confront the enemy cubes outside with the nav-bot's help.

Barnette had also given the Filipino a fragmentation grenade to be used for special situations. The teams then split up as the enemy was closing in according to Pyroro.

-oOo-

Back at the Nirvana, Meia had led the launching dreads and also asked if Bart could destroy the enemy ships including the now arriving Dark Wing Zero.

Bart then replied that he could not do it since the enemy cubes were way too close to the station. Any targeting error on his part and he may hit the station as well.

This had prompted the Dread Squadron leader to use her team in leading the cubes as far from the space station for Bart to destroy them.

This was easier said than done since the cubes themselves had felt no similar compunctions.

-oOo-

Back in the space station's interior, things were moving to a fever pitch as both the station manager and Rabat had joined in the battle.

Even then, they were fighting with limited ammunition due to their use of fire arms as the enemy blobs could not be hurt by laser fire or any energy weapon. The spent beams would only be absorbed by the enemy.

In the meantime, the three pilots were climbing a ladder for the shortest route towards the ports where their ships were docked. Pyroro was guiding them throughout their climb.

"Hurry up, they're gaining on us." The nav-bot was saying as the three pilots were climbing up the ladder with Dita in the lead.

"We're climbin' as fast as we -" The Taraakan's words were stopped midway when he had hit the Mejeeran's backside.

"Umm," was the only thing Dita had said in reply as her face had colored at the given contact on her hind quarters.

"Sorry," Hibiki said as he had slowly backed down.

"Wilya quit foolin' around up there?" William said in exasperation as Hibiki's boot was about to make contact with his face.

"Alright, alright." Hibiki said in reply as Dita had continued climbing. The nav-bot had already gone ahead to the platform just above the other three to continue scouting for a safer route to the ships.

"The docks are just past this-" Pyroro was saying as he had opened the sliding door only to see the big blob of the enemy staring right back at him. "They're here!"

"Pyroro, git down here. Hibiki, Dita, hold onto somethin' quick." William shouted in response.

The Filipino had by then snaked his left arm on the nearest rung and rail for support as his right hand had grabbed the grenade from his jacket's right pocket. William then pulled the pin and threw the grenade as high as he could.

"Fire in the hole!" William said upon throwing the grenade. "I've always wanted to say that."

The sudden explosion, as the grenade had detonated at the landing where the enemy were standing, had destroyed the slimy blob completely along with the other blob that was just entering the shaft.

Their slimy remains had dripped down the ladder and off the landing to the bottom of the shaft.

"Eww," Dita screamed as she had hurried in climbing up with the other two humans following soon after, shaking the goo of her hands as she did so.

"Pyroro, where do we go next?" Hibiki said as the three pilots were wiping away the slime that had dripped to their clothes and boots after the explosion.

"I believe it's this way," Pyroro replied as he had floated through the now empty hallway.

-oOo-

While Hibiki and the others were making their way to the spaceports, Buzam and her team had finally met Gascogne and the civilians.

"Gascogne, you're not supposed to be here?!" Buzam said in her surprise.

"I was about to tell ya the same thing," Gascogne replied. "You guys jus' caught up with us."

"Great," Barnette said in disgust. "The blob squad is still on our tail and we're running out of ammo here."

Parfeit's handheld device had already shown them the radar scan of the hallway past the hatch with plenty of blips converging at the bottom.

This had showed the trapped victims that the enemy forces were almost on top of them.

They were about to make a final defensive maneuver when Vandread Dita had burst into the scene destroying the enemy completely.

"Sorry, we're late." Hibiki had said in the Vandread's external speakers.

"Don't be late again or I'll kill ya for sure," The elder register said with a relieved smile.

-oOo-

Outside, the dreads' pilots were relieved by the appearance of Wing Zero into the fray.

The gundum had already destroyed most of the cubes when it had separated the twin buster rifle into its two parts and used them on their beam rifle configuration.

William was careful to fire only when the enemy was far enough from the station to be hit precisely.

The Dark Wing Zero did not move or even take the bait however as it had continued to stand on the station's main body's top and had used it as a sort of sniping point where he had preyed on the dreads that were led by the buzzing cubes.

"I have an idea, William but you have to do exactly as I say." Zero said as it had made a plan to get the harvest copy's attention.

A minute later, everyone from the bridge to the dreads' cockpit was stunned at seeing the blue and white gundum ridicule its copy by means of body language.

Thankfully, this scene was not seen by those inside the space station as it would really be embarrassing to the gundum pilot. At the very least not until the said group had returned from the station anyway.

The fact that the gundum was slapping its alloyed butt as it had bent down to its waist and even making a simulated eye gesture that most Tarrakans' were known for was enough for Paiway to make the first and only pai-check from the Nirvana's outside surveillance cameras.

The tactic did work though as something that resembled white steam seemed to come out of what would have been the Dark Wing Zero's ears.

It then chased Wing Zero past the station and in range of Bart's fire. Zero had also blasted it with the conjoined rifles as an added precaution.

After the enemy was disposed of completely and the station's residents rescued, William had gotten himself to be the butt of jokes in both the tactical net and the command net.

"Nice move, you guys." A dread pilot had commented before bursting in laughter as the screen had faded out.

"Zero, I'd really not do that again if I havta." William said as he had crossed his arms across his chest. "This is sooo embarrassing, not only for you but fer me too."

"We have to get Dark Wing Zero's attention, did we not," Zero said with an amused undertone. "My calculations were correct that in angering the copy, it would chase after us."

"Whatever, let's head for home."

-oOo-

A week later as the Nirvana was nearing the magnetic storm, Dita was making some rice balls for Hibiki.

A frantic search for the Vanguard pilot had first gotten her to the men's quarters, the hanger where she had a brief chat with Zero, and the gym where she had talked with Sera and Celtic as the latter two were working out.

She then stopped to think that Hibiki may be in the Nirvana's arsenal where he usually sweeps the floor while William dusts the shelves and ammunition.

When Dita had arrived in her destination minutes later, she had found the Filipino pilot doing both jobs.

An electronic organizer was placed at the wall nearest the older teen since William may have been using it to do some cataloging as well.

"Hi, William." Dita said at the older teen that seemed to be daydreaming. "Do you know where Mr. Alien is?"

"Yeah, he and the boss were havin' their usual poker game in the counter upstairs." The Filipino pilot said in reply after shaking his head back to reality.

"Oh, would you like to help me carry these rice balls there?" The red head said with her doe like eyes.

"Uh sure." William said before pulling a radio set from his left pocket. "Boss, I'm done with most of the cleanin' and about half of the catalogin'. I havta escort Dita up there as well."

"Sure. Things are a little slow up 'ere with Lover Boy taking his time in showing his hand," came the tinny reply from the radio's speaker.

"Who're ya callin' Lover Boy?!" was heard before William had turned off the set with a sigh.

After waiting for Dita's blush to come down, he then said. "Let's go."

-oOo-

It was only when both William and Dita had arrived at the Registrar's counter that they had seen something that made the red head almost drop her container full of rice balls - Hibiki was studying his cards while Gascogne waits for him.

It was the fact that Misty was already there and actually feeding the Taraakan who was more intent in the game than in the company beside him that shocked the red head.

William was a little surprised as well but knowing the Plutonian's style, he knew that it was bound to happen anyway.

"Misty, get away from Mr. Alien. He doesn't even like what you define as food." Dita said as she had suddenly grabbed the surprised male teen from behind and even tried to feed him her rice balls.

The immediate result was that Hibiki had blown up on both of the girls and not noticing that his time to show his hand was up.

He then showed his hand – a full house only to be trumped by Gascogne's straight flush.

Misty had blamed Dita for Hibiki's loss as the teen in question was calling for another round.

All of this was stopped when the bridge called for full alert as another Harvester fleet had arrived. This fleet even had one of the larger flagships according to the announcement.

"Boss, let's finish this game when we get back." Hibiki said in a rush as he ran to catch up with the running Dita and William.

-oOo-

Soon all of the dreads were in formation with Vandread Jura and Wing Zero in the front lines.

Across from them lied the harvest fleet complete with a battleship class flagship, some swirling lights had also announced the arrival of the Vandread copies along with Dark Wing Zero.

"They are definitely serious in finishing us off," Zero mused as he had scanned the enemy forces through his eye cameras. "I would suggest a holding action since the numbers are definitely against us this time around."

"I agree with ya on that, partner." William said as he had gripped the control levers hard as his booted feet had touched the pedals lightly.

Keying in the communication system, he then told everyone. "Guys, I got a bad feeling 'bout this and even Zero's feelin' it too. Best be careful 'bout our next moves."

"C'mon, Willy. We can take care of these guys," Hibiki said with confidence. "I mean, we did it before we can do it again."

"William is right, Hibiki." Meia's voice had echoed in the airwaves. "We will still attack the fleet but as soon as we find ourselves outnumbered, we retreat immediately."

"Let's go!" Hibiki said as the Vandread Jura had taken the point in the attack formation.

As the said formation was about to reach their still stationary enemies, there was another swirling pattern of light right in front of them.

Undaunted, the attacking force had ripped through the initial wall of cubes and their mother ships before they had to stop once the swirling was done.

In front of them was an exact copy of the Nirvana. This time, the other enemies had advanced including the Vandread copies.

Wing Zero had taken the fight to its copy as the rest of the fighters had fought with the other Vandread copies.

Bart had even said that he would take care of the small fry until he had realized how many the "small fry" really were (about a thousand cubes and their corresponding mother crafts, give or take a hundred cubes).

"Heh, heh." The bald navigator said as sweat had flowed through his pores. "Um, I guess I never noticed how many they were."

"You got that part right," Amarone said through a communication window on Bart's left.

-oOo-

Back to the battle at hand, Vandread Jura had continued its pilots' plan as it had immobilized most of the remaining heavy hitters only for the fake Nirvana fire a dark red beam.

The beam had torn though the shield completely – immobilizing Dita's dread that was stationed behind the Vandread.

The enemy did not even stop to marvel at its handiwork as it had fired a second beam at the now stationary Vandread right after it had transformed to robot mode.

Vandread Jura had separated to its two components with both pilots injured badly. Jura was also unconscious due to heavy loss of blood. This had made both Hibiki and Barnette to go berserk.

They had attacked the various enemies blindly before they were all called to retreat by Gascogne.

Barnette and Hibiki's machines had to be overridden for them to join the exodus.

Thankfully, William was already told by his gundum's AI not to activate the ZERO system yet as he too was growing frustrated with the Vandread copies and Dark Wing Zero double teaming on his machine.

When the call to retreat was established, William had jetted backwards before firing a dual salvo of the twin buster rifle on the bunched up enemies.

The yellow parallel beams had decimated most of the lesser ships, but they were evaded by the heavy hitters only to be blocked by the Nirvana copy's force shield.

William could only stare for a few seconds before turning his machine around and joining the others in their retreat.

"Damn, that thing's fucking tough." He said with Zero grunting in agreement.

-oOo-

"What is wrong with this picture?" Barnette said as she had began her rant at the situation room. "We got our butts collectively kicked even though we had gotten better these past few months. Anyone notice where we had gone wrong?"

"Yes," Meia said from where she was leaning on the wall. "We were too overconfident and had not even considered that the Harvest fleet would produce another strong enemy just to deal with us."

"Leader is right, that new copy is more powerful than any of us had thought." Dita had seconded through her sobbing. "We should have retreated when we had the chance,"

"Are you girls' nuts?!" The green haired pilot said as she had rounded on them.

"And you two, I thought that having the most powerful war machines in the universe could ensure our victory." Barnette added as she had faced the bipedal mecha pilots who were sitting in another table.

"Don't take it out on us, girl." Hibiki said as he had enough of being blamed for the debacle they had gotten earlier. "How are we supposed to know that they'd send another enemy at us?"

William slowly nodded as he too had agreed with his younger friend thus he said. "We all had taken the risk when we took off for this battle. We simply had underestimated our enemies' strength."

"Excuses, excuses." Barnette had screamed at everyone in the room. "Excuses won't cut it for whatever Jura's been through. It only proves that you guys are a bunch of weaklings."

This had struck a nerve with the diminutive pilot as he had stomped over to the other hot head.

"You wanna repeat that to my face, Miss 'I didn't even do my part but I'll blame anyone else anyway'." Hibiki said with his arms akimbo.

"Why you?!"

"Enough!"

Everyone then looked at the stern expression Gascogne was wearing as she had entered the room.

"I can't say that I'm proud of what we've all done today but at the very least we can still fight for another day."

Barnette could not hold herself any longer and charged at the taller registrar, gloved fists clenched.

The green haired veteran had read the younger girl's intention and grabbed the said girl's right fist before it could made contact with her face.

"Barnette, I had to stop you from killing yourself out there not only for my sake but for yours and Jura's as well.'

"Don't you even dare use her name to excuse yourself from blame," Barnette spat as her hand was let go. "We can beat them. We already did."

"We could win, if we didn't have to contend with Dark Wing Zero and our new enemy – the Shadow Nirvana." The elder registrar said with malicious smirk. "Even then, it may possibly a Pyrrhic victory since we could lose a lot of our numbers for something that isn't even that important. We're pirates not the navy. We cut and run when things get too hot fer us."

Since Barnette could not even offer a counter argument, Gascogne said that she had things to do and left quickly.

Thankfully, Hibiki had not said anything either since William or Meia would give him a glare or a slap for that.

"I'm gonna do some sparring," The loud mouth Vanguard pilot said as he was leaving in a huff. "You coming, William?"

"Sure, I don't have much to do anyway." The Filipino answered as he had stood up and left.

Meia had also stood up and grabbed Dita's hand as the latter girl was wiping her tears away.

Barnette was left behind clenching her fists. Since she could not bear it any longer, she too had marched out of the room in tears saying. "Jura, I'm sorry."

-oOo-

At her own spacious room, Gascogne had picked up a treasure chest that she had kept in a safe along with her prized possessions.

She then picked up thin wire that she had used as a toothpick of sorts and squeezed hard. The said wire had morphed into a key.

The elder registrar then remembered her past with her older sister. She and her sister had lived in the slums before entering the military in the hopes of getting a better lease in life.

The key that Gascogne had held was given to her by her sister in their younger days when they were still close.

It was when they were in the military that things had changed between them. Gascogne and her sister had gotten at odds with each other over protocol and the younger woman's attitude.

During a Terra-forming incident that had gone totally wrong, Gascogne's sister was killed while trying to save a little girl as the corridor where both siblings were arguing had blown up.

The colony's defense system had recognized the sudden decrease in pressure and activated the airlock door nearest to it. Gascogne was pushed through the said airlock before it was closed.

It was only then when the registrar's sister had apologized for her rough treatment of her but she had explained that it was necessary for Gascogne to grow as a good woman.

After opening the treasure chest and seeing the various jewelry it held, the registrar had picked up a second key.

This key had opened a cabinet where the picture frames of her fallen comrades in the years that they had served Magno.

The registrar then returned everything to their proper place before leaving the room in silence.

-oOo-

Meia had caught up to the men in the gym sparring like their very lives had depended on it. Joining them were Seran, Celtic, Gascogne, and Duero.

Duero was waiting for Hibiki to finish so that he could check his data card. Hibiki's data card is found in the tag that he has always worn on his neck.

The Vanguard pilot said that the said item was given to him by his grandfather. This had gotten Duero's curiosity since first generations and third generations including him had never met at all except on a few occasions.

The registrar was smiling at the fact that both mecha pilots had gotten better in their martial arts skills as she herself had supervised Seran's and Celtic's own sparring session.

Meia was about to tell the bipedal mecha pilots' about Gascogne's past when a gloved hand was raised in her direction.

Gascogne then told her past in the hopes that the newcomers would understand the difference between doing your duty and being non-flexible about it.

Duero then escorted the tired Vanguard pilot to the clinic while the rest had stayed behind to chat some more. Gascogne had also brought up a pack of playing cards to help pass the time.

It was in the midst of all this that Hibiki had stumbled on an ingenious idea to stop the harvest fleet.

More so, Parfet seems to be detecting a second paeksis in the vicinity and it seems that their paeksis is afraid of it.

-oOo-

It had turned out that Hibiki's card is unreadable for some reason and the paeksis had gone a bit of a reboot about it.

To add to the gloom and doom in the Nirvana, the enemy fleet had managed to catch up to it.

Thus, all pilots had gone to their respective crafts as the alarms had been blaring their mournful cries.

The bridge crew had also gotten to their posts as the repeated calls of "Get to your battle stations" were heard.

Once again, the dreads and bipedal mecha had gotten into positions to either defend the Nirvana or attack the enemy.

This time, it was neither since most of the dreads would only keep the enemy busy while a certain squadron would infiltrate the enemy's ranks and destroy the enemy battle wagon from the inside.

The said squadron would be composed of the Vanguard and its three partner dreads along with Wing Zero trailing them.

The winged gundum's job is to keep its Harvest doppelganger and the Vandread copies out of the squadron's way.

To do the job as quickly as possible, Meia's dread had combined with the Vanguard.

With the newly formed Vanguard Meia, Hibiki had led the attack towards the enemy battleship.

Bart had aimed the Nirvana's lasers at the enemy and had decimated a lot of them.

William had fired two simultaneous salvos with his signature weapon in beam cannon configuration at the bunched copies and managed to incinerate both the fake Vanguard Dita and fake Vanguard Meia with it.

The remaining two fakes had escaped destruction by means of their shields, before they had engaged the waiting winged gundum that had switched to its greenish beam saber.

The straightforward attack was doing well until the fake Nirvana had intervened. It had transformed itself to robot mode once again before firing a single red beam and following it up with a few swipes at the attacking force with its massive claws.

To cover her friends, Barnette had steered her craft for an attack run at the giant mecha before getting caught in its claws.

The green haired teen was about to prepare for the worst when a flight of missiles had struck the fake Nirvana's elbow section, freeing the Barnette's dread.

The fake Nirvana then caught the culprit in its other hand, the supply ship that Gascogne was piloting.

Just before Gascogne had ignited her ship's boosters to full power, she had told everyone in the tactical and command net.

"I've been tough on all of ya for a good reason. And that reason is that I want you to be strong, strong enough to defeat these guys and send 'em packin'."

The supply ship, its rear thrusters now going on full throttle, had pushed the Nirvana copy along with itself on a collision course with the mother ship.

The resulting explosion had taken out a large chunk of the battle wagon's side, along with some smaller pods and cubes in its wake.

Seeing the destruction of the supply ship, Hibiki had challenged the still functional Shadow Nirvana to a fight. In doing so, he had seen the red peaksis in his mind's eye once again.

The presence of the red paeksis had contributed mostly to the separation of the Vanguard and Meia's dread.

The light blue haired leader was actually telling herself that she was not strong enough to not even know fear as she had watched the Vanguard charge at the giant robot only to be pulled away at the last minute by the winged gundum.

She then led her machine away as the Nirvana had suddenly changed course and bolted from the whole battle.

The dreads and Wing Zero had followed; the latter mecha had gotten a full nelson on the smaller one as they had made their escape.

-oOo-

Hibiki was having a really bad day since the harvest fleet had shown its new toy.

He had heard the only good news of the day – Magno had told everyone that the enemy flagship had a large hole in its side after the explosion that had claimed the life of the elder registrar.

The young mechanic slash pilot had gotten back to the registry where he and Gasco were playing poker. He then took a peek at the registrar's cards only to see yet another winning hand.

"Mr. Alien, are you ok?" a familiar voice had said behind him upon the opening of the door.

"No, I'm not ok." Hibiki screamed at the now shocked and frightened Dita. "Why don't you jus' comfort someone-?"

Hibiki was not able to finish his sentence since he was suddenly brought down to the floor by a surprise right hook after the door had once again opened for a bit.

"She was trying to comfort ya, you dumb ass." William was saying as he had retracted his gloved fist as he stood next to a shocked Dita, his body bent slightly and his hands still clenched tightly in a fist. "Although, even I'm not sure why since you've been a total dick after we've gotten back."

"You wanna make somethin' outta it," The younger pilot had retorted as he too had gotten into a fighting stance and spit some blood caused by the intensity of the earlier blow after he stood up. "C'mon. Give me yer best shot, big guy."

"William, Mr. Alien." Dita was saying through tears as she had suddenly stepped in between the agitated combatants before blows could be actually exchanged. "You're both good friends so you shouldn't even fight like this."

The red head's teary eyed expression was enough to calm both males down and even apologize to each other while lowering their fists.

Dita then told them of the time that she was living in a slum area in one of Mejare's city states as a child.

At the time, whenever the young woman had made a mistake or say something silly back then, she had gotten laughed at by the other women.

From there, the red headed Dread pilot had made a vow to herself to make people happy as best as she could. This story had touched both males' hearts enough for William to give Dita a brotherly hug with Hibiki remaining still for a few moments.

The red head had gotten her own self out of the older teen's hug to give her own to the blushing young man in front of her.

It was this scene that Barnette had stumbled into when she had entered the room with Seran and Celtic right behind her.

"Come to think of it," the green haired pilot was saying as she had turned around, herding the gawking younger girls with her. "It's better that I'll come back later. Show's over, kids."

"No," Hibiki had said as he and Dita had quickly separated from each other with a blush. "I know that you wouldn't believe me fer sayin' this but…I'm sorry."

"Wow," the green haired pilot said as she had suddenly closed the distance between herself and the Vanguard pilot and studied the latter's forehead. "Did that bump on the head when Zero had pulled yer machine actually do this?"

"Not funny," Hibiki said with crossed arms. "Look, I've been a total asshole for the past hour since we've…you know?"

"Yeah, me too." Barnette had answered as she had raised her right hand for a hand shake. "Seran and Celtic had made their point too when they had literally slapped some sense to me."

"I said I'm sorry, Miss Barnette." Celtic was saying with a huff as the two hotheads had shaken hands while both Seran and Dita had shared a content smile between each other.

-oOo-

It was after both Hibiki and Barnette had buried the hatchet that they had began making plans on how to defeat the harvest fleet and also get their revenge for Gascogne's death.

It was around that time that Misty had arrived with a puzzled Meia in tow.

Seeing Misty had given the Taraakan pilot a gem of an idea. He then asked the girl's permission to use the pod that was sent with her from Pluto.

"Uh, sure but why would…" Misty was not able to continue when Meia had shared grins with Hibiki.

"That is just crazy enough to actually work," Meia said with a rare smile on her face. The smile was so rare that three of the pirates had either fainted or were running around in circles.

"Ok, get your acts together girls." Meia said as she had returned to her commanding nature. "This fool may have stumbled on something important."

"Who're ya calling a fool?" Hibiki was saying as William had gotten him in a standing full nelson. "Besides, you're jus' jealous that I had thought of it before you did."

"Alright, it's party time." Barnette said as she had joined most of the girls to the catalog section of the ship's armory to retrieve the said pod and its "special" cargo.

Dita had stayed behind to soothe Hibiki's bruised ego despite the ribbing she had been getting from the others.

-oOo-

As it had turned out, Hibiki's idea was to use the virus that had nearly disabled the Nirvana only two weeks before.

Parfet had also added she had the perfect device to knock out the communication links between the enemy cubes, pods, fakes, and the mother ship itself albeit only for a few minutes.

But they still needed a device that could serve as the virus' container of sorts to actually deliver it to the mother ship's systems.

All eyes in the situation room had turned to Pyroro who was playing with Pyroro 2… I mean, Kahlua.

"What?" The little nav-bot said before realizing the real reason for the stares. A mad chase for Pyroro throughout the whole ship had ensued a few seconds later with the baby given to her grateful mother just before the chase had even begun.

-oOo-

After an hour, the chase had ended and Pyroro was forcefully being pulled by Hibiki to his craft. Kahlua did not mind it much as she was held by her mother's arms.

The little nav-bot had one last trick up his sleeve though as he had shocked Hibiki a bit before flying to his goal but it was thwarted by William's mid-air tackle.

The human had to use his full weight of 160 pounds as he had curled into a ball to keep Pyroro down as some of the crew members had joined in the dog pile.

Thus, Pyroro had no other choice than to join the flight since even he did not want a repeat of the smothering weight that he had gotten from the said dog pile. That did not stop him from complaining about being separated from Pyroro 2 though.

Hibiki had actually told the nav-bot to shut up just as he had started to combine his machine with Meia's dread.

Once Vandread Meia had formed, it had once again led the attack.

Both Bart and William had cut a large path through the cubes and pods with their coordinated firepower before the flight had charged in.

In addition, Barnette had also launched Parfeit's device and it had worked splendidly as all the lesser enemies plus the stronger ones had gone off line.

At the lead was Vandread Meia that was covered by Dita and Barnette. Wing Zero had separated from the group as it had proceeded to destroy the copies by means of its separated twin buster rifle salvos.

As soon as the breech was reached by the flight, most of the dreads had banked away in order to protect the attacking party.

Wing Zero had joined in the defenders as its pilot had changed his mind in entering the hole since someone had be left behind in case the copies go back online. Only Vandread Meia and its supporting fighters had gone inside the battle wagon.

-oOo-

Inside the cavernous pathway, the mother ship's internal defense systems had gone online. Sadly, Barnette was hit by one of the defense system's lasers and had to limp her way inside.

This had forced Hibiki to separate his Vanguard with Meia's dread to combine with Dita's for the needed protection before going in further.

Soon, Pyroro had exited Vandread Dita on its way towards the various circuitry inside the mother ship's nexus.

All four humans and one nav-bot were surprised with the appearance of the Shadow Nirvana that had somehow shaken off the effects of Parfeit's scrambler as it had holed the wall nearby.

Suddenly, the Shadow Nirvana was hit from behind by missiles and a powerful plasma beam. Both Jura's dread and Wing Zero had entered the battle with the gundum mostly acting as the dread's support.

"You guys didn't even invite me into the party," Jura said as her bandaged face was seen in the communication systems. "I may have to punish you for that."

"Jura, what the heck are you doing here?!" Barnette had said as her dread had launched a spread of missiles along with Meia's and Jura's at the distracted enemy.

Both the Vandread and winged gundum were fighting the enemy fake in close quarters combat at the time using fists and other limbs.

The missiles along with the physical attacks had literally taken the giant mecha down the mother ship's bowels.

The virus had worked its magic as the whole harvest fleet was offline once again.

"Alright guys, let's head for home." William was saying as Wing Zero was carrying the damaged dread in its arms. The other dreads outside had already left for the Nirvana.

Suddenly, a powerful blast had made another hole in the wall behind the surprised team. The other hole had somehow closed up before anyone had noticed it.

All of the dread pilots sans Barnette had told William to get out of the area as soon as possible.

Even Hibiki had told his Filipino friend to move his ass as the second blast had engulfed all four mecha.

William was about to turn around and fire one last shot when he and Barnette were blinded by a familiar green light.

The Shadow Nirvana also had to look away as the light was too intense.

As soon as the light cleared, Zero could not believe its Search Eye system. It then told both William and Barnette that a new Vandread was born.

The said Vandread had all of the offensive and defensive abilities of the original three and that Pyroro was also located in the middle of the said machine's chest.

Soon, the other four pilots' faces were seen in the communication screen. While both Hibiki's and Dita's shared expression was those of being impressed, Jura's could only show bafflement at the amount of buttons in front of her.

Meia's own expression was that of disbelief of not only being alive but actually in yet another Vandread cockpit along with the other three pilots.

"Sorry to disappoint you guys, but we have one extremely pissed mecha jus' behind you," William said with a bit of dread in the airwaves.

"I see 'im," Hibiki had replied with aplomb. "Just get outta here, we'll take care of this big bozo."

Wing Zero then jetted off as flashes of the titanic battle behind him could be seen in the various reflections of the disabled battle wagon's shiny interior that was a little bigger than before. It was only through Barnette's live communication that its pilot had learned what was going on behind it.

"That Super Vandread's kicking major ass since it did not only block the Shadow Nirvana's energy blast but had sliced it in two."

"Wow," William had managed to say before the said machine had kept up with the winged gundum on its way back to the Nirvana.

-oOo-

Hours later, the five pilots along with Misty, Seran, and a few others were talking about their minor miracle in the harvest fleet's battle ship in the cafeteria.

"You guys should have seen it, it was awesome." Hibiki was saying before Meia had interrupted him with a question directed at Celtic.

"Did the boss actually agree with our request?"

Celtic had simply shrugged her shoulders as she answered. "She only said 'Do as you see fit' to B.C. before retiring to her quarters."

"I didn't know that Boss Magno had actually regarded Miss Gasco like her own daughter," Misty had said with a bit of sadness.

"Neither did I," Seran had added. "She's such a good teacher to us. I'm going to honor her memory by fighting too. I've been way too passive lately."

"Seran…" Celtic was about to say something but trailed off for some reason.

"Look, Celtic." Seran said as she had cupped her worried friend's face in her slender and pale hands. "I'm not going to mope around for the rest of my time here in the Nirvana. I'm going to pilot a dread too since this is the only way I can repay Miss Gasco's patience in teaching me to fight."

"Glad to have ya aboard," Hibiki said as he had shaken the new pilot's hand. "Wonder who's going to be our new boss though?"

"Why don't you head up to the Registry and find out?" Misty said with a snicker.

"Alright, let's go." The Taraakan had told his older best friend as both males had stood up and left. "See ya girls later."

When the door to the cafeteria had shut with a click, Jura then turned to the smiling Plutonian. "You know who she is, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

-oOo-

As soon as both bipedal mecha pilots had reached the counter where Gasco was usually seen, a familiar face with a different uniform had turned around to meet them.

Barnette then said. "Ah good, you're both here. We've got a lot of cataloguin' to do since Parfeit had requested a sort of upgrading for our dreads' weaponry."

The pilots' unspoken reply was simply two loud thumps as both males had fainted right then and there.

"Boys will be boys," The green haired former dread pilot said with her first genuine smile in days.

* * *

It is not that easy to kill off a character, but this time it is canonical to do so. Still, Gascogne's death may also be the needed catalyst for our young heroes to finally grow up and accept their failures along with their victories.

I am also sure that you had liked my other character to be vilified even for a little bit as far as I could determine from the chapter hits in the traffic stats.

Maybe, I will make him a true villain in a sequel to this story or maybe a stand alone one as it is rare for an OC to be used as a main bad guy that the hero would dispose off in the end.

For now, William Zapanta would just be a supporting character here as the true heroes (and stars of the show) are Hibiki Tokai and the others.

In the next chapter, a certain light blue haired Air Boss will take center stage as she bonds with the newest characters and learn that being a big sister and aunt is not what it is cracked up to be.

Again, it is time to say farewell as I will be making the final touches on the concluding tenth chapter that would be coming up before (or maybe during Christmas time) as my one and only gift to you.


	9. Breaking Free

Welcome to the next to the last chapter of Flight of the Intruders. After drying our tears from the last chapter, we get to laugh a bit at the (mis)adventures of the unofficial Air Boss of the Mejere pirate ship- Nirvana - Meia Gibson.

Well, at least we do for most of this chapter since there is still some Hibiki/Dita interactions at the start of the chapter.

This would only prove that even a perfectionist like Meia makes mistakes, but more than make up for it as you would see in this chapter. There is also a glimpse of a Barnette Orangello who is slowly learning the final lessons from her predecessor - Gascogne and finally, a glimpse of how the newest members of the Nirvana crew would fare in the rough and tumble world of a space pirates even though they do not know what to do.

Once again, read and enjoy the ninth chapter of Flight of the Intruders simply entitled...

* * *

**Chapter 9** - **Breaking Free**

It had started rather innocently enough. A good three days after their latest encounter with the largest fleet of harvesters yet, the alarm was sounded though out the Nirvana though it was not because of the enemy.

A thorough structural scan of the ship's exterior armor as well as its interior rooms had resulted in finding that the plumbing in the men's section had ruptured, causing widespread flooding in the whole section.

The water had reached about waist height in some places before the leaks had stopped altogether. For most of the ship's crew, it was a minor problem. Not so for the four males since it was a catastrophe in the making for them.

Thankfully, most of the electronic gadgets that the males had with them were already moved to the warehouse for safekeeping.

If there was a single crewman that had seen the rainbow beyond the rain clouds, it was the pre-teen nurse slash unofficial muckraker- Paiway Underburg.

The aforementioned shrimp…I mean said child-nurse was doing "Pai-checks" all over the submerged section which she had gone through by means of an inflatable raft (the water would have gone to her chest if she had gone in without it).

A number of her "candid camera" pictures had almost put the guys in a bad light though. For example, a certain photo was taken of Bart doing a face plant underwater near his bed.

The navigator would later explain that it was done so he could get his fluffy pillow back when he had fallen in face first.

Paiway had said that she had caught a red headed octopus on camera. Bart's reaction was simply a seething glare at the said pre-teen's camera lens as some bubbles were escaping from his tightly closed mouth.

A second photo had Hibiki sitting cross legged on his bed; his clothes were still dripping wet after he had slipped into the drink just before Paiway had arrived. The same could be said for the Vanguard pilot's bed upon his return.

A fierce scowl was seen on the young Taraakan's face upon having his picture taken.

A third photo had William talking to Zero on his brand new wrist communication link – a late Christmas gift from Parfait.

Unlike the other two males before him, the gundum pilot had offered a teasing grin to which Paiway had scowled to behind the camera.

A fourth photo was taken of Duero keeping a neatly stacked pile of medical books by his left side. This was immediately followed by a fifth and sixth picture.

The fifth photo was of the Taraakan doctor getting wet from a ruptured pipe just above him. Ironically, Duero had just said that "It is certainly not wise to get person's lower half wet" when he had gotten drenched.

The final photo was taken by Hibiki as he had grabbed the waterproof camera from a surprised nurse just as the latter was also drenched by a second ruptured pipe from above.

Paiway was caught by complete surprise since she was laughing at Duero's ill timed bath when she herself had gotten wet.

The Filipino had played Good Samaritan after seeing the pre-teen's inflatable raft slowly sinking from having taken in too much water. He had grabbed the panicking nurse and laid her roughly on his right shoulder.

William then grabbed his stuff and had left the section with a wave of good bye to his friends along with the wet and complaining pre-teen still on his shoulder.

-oOo-

All four men were moved to the infirmary where they had talked about where to spend the next few days while the pipes were still being fixed. All of them plus one nurse were wearing towels over their wet clothing.

This particular discussion was rudely interrupted by a group of girls that had gone in the said room to offer their (indecent) proposals.

The first to propose (on sharing her room with one of the guys that is) was Misty. She had even added full meal course of delicious food to sweeten the deal for the Taraakan pilot.

Still Hibiki, being as stubborn as he is, had refused completely and left the clinic altogether.

Not to be deterred, the blue haired teen then offered her room to William. The gundum pilot had smiled at the given offer but replied that he had already had borrowed a futon for him to sleep in the armory.

Seeing an opportunity to have a comfortable bed for the time being, Bart then accepted the given offer.

Misty had looked stymied for a minute before refusing to let the bald navigator sleep on her bed.

"Sorry, Light Bulb Head but the offer is not applicable to you." The blue haired Plutonian said as she was leaving the room.

"L-light Bulb Head?!"

Bart was catatonic at the given refusal and its added insult and had actually gotten into a fetal position on the clinic floor to everyone else's disgust.

Paiway had made one more Pai-check on the brooding navigator before being pulled out of the clinic against her will by a stubborn Pyroro for potentially spreading germs.

Barnette had gone next as she had offered the temporary use of her room for the gundum pilot. She had also said that the use of the armory as a hotel is not allowed.

With a frown on his face, William had accepted the offer and had let the green haired young woman lead him to his new accommodations.

After the registry chief and her subordinate had left the clinic, Parfeit had looked at the remaining four people and said. "Wonder why would Barnette of all people give one of the guys her room?"

"In a word- Jura." Midori said with a blown cherry.

Turning to the brooding navigator, she then added. "How 'bout using my room, Bart? It's a bit girly and all, but losers can't be choosers, right?"

"You are absolutely correct," Bart said with glee as he had taken his things and followed the bridge operator. "Lead me to your humble adobe then."

This time, it was Duero who was confused with the new developments and had even said so to the head engineer.

"That one's easy," Parfeit said with a wide smile. "Midori always wanted to stay in Seran's room and this is too big an opportunity to pass up."

Hearing the groan from the doctor, she had added. "Speaking of rooms, how 'bout staying in mine for a while?"

"Sorry," Duero said as he had grabbed a nearby skeleton. "I am much more used to being here."

"Umm," Parfeit was saying as she had slowly backed away to the door. "You're right, see ya."

-oOo-

Hibiki was already on his way to the rear hanger with his pillow and blanket when he had met the blue haired Plutonian once again.

The fourteen year old then escorted the skeptical older teen towards the hanger, carrying a large cotton bag over her left shoulder.

The said bag's contents were later revealed to be a full course meal that our Vandread pilot was eating with unrestrained enthusiasm.

After finishing off the dessert, Hibiki then looked up at the stoic gundum before asking in a loud voice.

"Hey, Zero. You don't mind having me around here?"

The familiar rumble, which had coincided with both the camera eyes and chest orb glowing bright green, was heard by the teens below.

It had actually spooked the Plutonian since it was her first time to witness the self-activation of the winged machine. More so for her yellowish blob that had hidden itself behind the Plutonian's neck.

"No, I do not." The AI replied through its external speakers.

Noticing the cowering girl behind the Vanguard pilot, it then added. "Miss Cornwell, do not be afraid. I am not a monster like the cubes but rather, I am one of your allies."

"Sorry, Zero." Misty said as she had emerged from the Vanguard pilot's back. "It's just that this is the first time I've heard a machine talk like a human before."

"You are not the only one," Zero replied dryly before turning his head in the opening door's direction. "Miss Liebly, would you like to join us in this discussion?"

All eyes had turned to the red head that was standing with her back literally to the large hatch.

A large aluminum pot was nearly dropped on the floor but was caught quickly enough by the red head to be placed down in a gentler manner.

"Um…do carry on." The red head was saying while waving her hands at the puzzled pilot and crew member. "Don't mind me. I'll just be going now."

Hibiki had felt his heart tighten a little when he saw that his fellow pilot and friend had picked up the aforementioned pot with both gloved hands.

Dita had, by then, turned around on her right heel just as the hatch had opened for the red head's exit.

The diminutive mecha pilot had only managed to say without a single stutter. "UFO Girl, please…stay."

Dita had shaken her head in response before saying. "I think…Misty would not want that."

"Goodbye," the red head had added before the hatch had closed shut. Her sobbing was barely heard through the closed door.

Misty had recovered from her stupor after hearing her name from her rival's lips. She had stood shell-shocked throughout the whole exchange as opposed to the impervious stare of the lone gundum.

The Plutonian then wrapped her thin arms around the pilot's left arm in a clingy manner. She had also added. "Yeah, Dita's right. You're coming with me, Hibiki."

Hibiki himself was caught in a moment of indecision. Thus, he had looked up at the towering machine still standing behind him.

With a hesitant voice, the older teen then said. "Zero, how 'bout giving me a hand here."

In response, Zero simply replied through its external speakers. "I cannot provide the correct answer, Hibiki. It is you that may have the answers, which you yourself seek."

"In that case, thank you." Hibiki replied before roughly shaking Misty's hands off him and leaving the scene altogether in a mad rush after a quick opening and closing of the massive hatchway.

Misty had looked up from where she had fallen on the metal deck before saying. "Hibiki's gonna catch up to her, isn't he?"

Wing Zero had simply looked down at Misty's direction before responding in a quieter tone. "Probably."

The blue haired teen had taken this as her cue to leave.

In the midst of all the drama in the hanger bay, only the AI had known about the security cameras that were recording their every move.

-oOo-

Hibiki was still chasing Dita in the various hallways of the ship. He had last seen a glimpse of red hair in the crewmember's living areas before losing it completely.

Turning around the corner, the Vanguard pilot had nearly collided with the gundum one. William, who had reacted quicker, was able to keep himself away from harm's way.

The reason for the Filipino's quick mindedness lay in his muscular arms.

"Uh, Will." Hibiki said in hushed tones. "Why are you holding Kahlua?"

William replied in the same manner as he had kept the sleeping child in his arms. "I dunno. She seems to like bein' in my arms more than Pyroro's for some reason."

"Maybe, she's looking for an Ohma figure and found it in you." A mechanical voice said from behind the pilots. "I'm more like her nanny."

Both pilots had fought the urge to jump high in their agitated states. After slowly turning their heads to the interloper, they had found a tittering navigation robot looking back at them.

"Don't scare us like that," Hibiki said as he had slammed a gloved fist over Pyroro's pointy top. William had carefully shifted the baby's weight so he could cover her ears with his gloved hands when the other pilot would say some very inappropriate words.

Even then, Kahlua herself had awoken with a yawn as her little hands were raised as far as she could raise them.

The newly awakened child then laughed at the shaking (and cursing) Vanguard pilot holding his sore left hand with Pyroro laughing along with her.

William did a good job covering Kahlua's ears though, just in case. The gundum pilot could only smile while shaking his head at the stupidity of his young friend.

A moment later, Hibiki had grabbed a surprised nav-bot and took him to the arsenal.

William then ran past a few crewmembers in the hallway while making some whining sounds that were similar to a dread's thruster fire as he had carried the squealing baby at arm's length like she was piloting a dread herself.

He had to do it or Kahlua would cry at the sudden absence of her robotic nanny and the funny young man.

The various young women, who the pair had passed by, could only smile at how the tall young man running past them with a small child in his outstretched hands was unequivocally cute. A few more had actually voiced their opinions to William's embarrassment.

It had taken some time before both mecha pilots had met in the park with Pyroro losing an arm in its earlier scuffle with Hibiki.

Since Pyroro was not able to hold Kahlua in the meantime, the child had remained in William's arms for the whole time that they had talked. Not that the baby would have minded it anyway.

"So, what's up?" William said as he had shifted the baby towards his left arm. "Is is related to Dita again?"

"Yeah," Hibiki said with a sigh.

The Taraakan had kept his face alight though so that Kahlua would not cry before saying. "I kinda made her mad again without even knowing why. I just don't understand women."

"Welcome to the club," the gundum pilot said wryly before tickling the child's stomach. Squeals of laughter were heard in the park where the young men had met.

"I take that back," the Taraakan pilot said with a teasing smile as he had joined in the tickling. "This is one female that I understand perfectly."

Even more squeals of high pitched laughter closely followed by two lower pitched ones were heard some minutes after.

-oOo-

Meanwhile, in Ezra's cabin that was converted into a nursery, two young women were having a discussion of their own.

"Are you ok, Dita?" the older woman had asked upon seeing the crying mess that had entered her room. She then continued on knitting her daughter's woolen mittens as she had patted on the bedside on her left.

"Thank you," Dita replied upon sitting down on the queen size bed. "I'm glad that you're still here, Ezra."

"So what had gotten you so uptight?" Ezra said after wiping her younger friend's tears away with her right hand. "Is it related to Hibiki again?"

"Why is it that every time I cry, you ask me the same question?" Dita said rather accusingly as she had always noticed the pattern whenever she or the Vanguard pilot would have some trouble.

"Well, whenever you come to me in tears, he's the subject in every one."

"Point taken."

"Again, what's going on with you two?" Ezra had repeated her earlier question as she had grabbed the younger girl's trembling hands. "I do hope that he didn't hurt you or anything."

"He didn't," the red head said rather quickly. "It's just that Misty's been feeding Mr. Alien again. That's supposed to be my job."

"I'll bet that it has much more to do with Hibiki rather than the feeding," the older controller said with a teasing grin.

"Yeah," Dita replied before bursting into tears once again. "Why does he choose her food? Why not mine?"

Ezra did not answer verbally but had gotten the younger girl in a warm embrace. The younger woman, in turn, had let out the tears that she had been holding back since then.

Five minutes later, Dita had dried her tears while thanking her older friend for the comforting hug.

Ezra then said. "You know, Dita. Misty is not exactly happy right now."

The red headed pilot's eyes had gone wide at the spoken revelation. She did not know that the usually happy go lucky Plutonian could actually be lonely.

"Think about it," the Controller said with crossed tone. "She's the only one of her kind now, much like William actually. At least, Seran's home planet is still safe."

"Ezra, I didn't know." Dita said with a horrified expression. "I'm sorry."

'Don't be," the brunette said with a relieved smile. "So first thing that'll you do is find the poor girl and tell her that you want to be her friend. It's that simple, right?"

"Uh-uh."

"Dita…"

"I know she's really lonely and all but…" Dita was already playing with her fingers as she spoke.

"But what?" Ezra was actually perplexed at this point.

"I don't know where she is," The red head said with what she had hoped was a cute face. "Any ideas?"

"None," the older girl finally answered after nearly letting her left palm hit her face in her exasperation. "Let's go since I've got to give Kahlua a bath."

"So she's with Pyroro?"

"Nope…she's with William."

"Oh."

-oOo-

In the makeshift security room (actually the cafeteria), Jura was not happy with what was happening with the currently estranged young couple.

Some other crewmembers had joined her during their breaks simply due to a lack of entertainment.

The blonde dread squadrons' overall second in command was especially seething at the fact that Misty, a total stranger, was winning the battle for Hibiki's heart.

"How dare such a cutesy little girl steal the only guy that has Dita's heart fluttering," the blonde pilot was saying after seeing the heartbreaking scene in the seventeen inch monitor in front of her.

The said monitor was hardwired to all the security cameras within the whole ship. The security room itself was under repair since it was near the male's sleeping quarters and thus was also affected by the flood.

"I agree," Amarone said from her place on Jura's right. "Dita should double her efforts since it's our pride as space pirates that are on the line here."

"Yeah," Belvedere had added as she was standing on Jura's left. "If I were her, I'd turn up the charm along with my cooking skills."

"What's going on here?" A no nonsense tone of voice had said from the opening hatch. "I knew that I should've moved that monitor to my room."

All eyes had turned to Meia who was accompanied by both Seran and Midori, both of which seemed to be inseparable these days.

The two younger girls seemed to be tired from whatever activity that they had done with the light blue haired dread leader. It was later learned to be some martial arts training made by the dread leader herself in place of the deceased Gascogne.

"Hey, Meia." Jura said with a pleasant smile. "Chill, girl. We're just testing the security system using two subjects."

"Those subjects wouldn't happen to be Hibiki and Dita right?" Meia was saying while shaking her head at the split screen where both aforementioned pilots were clearly seen.

"Uh, yeah."

"Ugh," the dread leader said with a dismissive wave as she had turned around. "Carry on."

"Thanks, Meia." Jura said before blowing a kiss at the closing door. "How 'bout you two? Wanna watch the show?"

"No thanks," Midori answered for both her and her friend. "We're gonna rest up before our next shift."

"See ya," Seran added as blue haired operator had led her out of the room.

-oOo-

After Meia had left the cafeteria, she had walked around to clear her head. In her musings, she had come across the still submerged portion of the middle deck.

After finding out where she had gotten to, the dread leader had seen both Duero and Parfait working together in fixing the busted pipes. No surprise there as both techies were more than capable enough to fix the problem.

She had also spied Hibiki standing nearby with crossed arms and an equally crossed expression on his face.

"So how long are you guys gonna fix that thing?" Hibiki said suddenly.

Duero had answered in usual smug manner. "Why don't you help us out so you would know?"

"Very funny," the Vanguard pilot said in reply. "Besides, plumbing is not my forte."

Seeing that the younger pilot needed a good talking to, Meia had entered the flooded section and said. "Coming back here won't solve your problems, Tokai."

"Oh," Hibiki said with a sneer after recovering from his surprise. "And what can help, O Wise One with the light blue hair."

"Cute," Meia had responded with a smirk. "How about taking the proverbial bull by the horns and actually keeping a promise for once?"

Seeing the younger pilot's stunned expression, she then added. "Surely, a **real** man such as you could keep his promise."

"I'm outta here," Hibiki said with a scowl as he had turned around and made his way out. "You're gettin' more talkative nowadays."

"It's called giving an opinion, Tokai." Meia said to the said teen's back as Hibiki had added his distance away from the small group.

Seeing the astonished stares directed at her from the supposed to be working twosome, the Dread leader then said. "What are you gawking at me for? Get back to work."

After seeing that the technical twosome had gone back to work, Meia had sloshed her way out as well.

Sometime after the dread leader had gone out of sight, Duero had stopped holding the pipe long enough to turn to his workmate and say. "Things are definitely changing, aren't they?"

The engineer had also stopped her twisting of the nut to answer. "Yeah, ever since you guys arrived, things are constantly changing."

Seeing the Taraakan doctor's puzzled expression, Parfait had added. "What's more is that something is definitely happening with Dita and Hibiki. I just couldn't put a finger on what it is yet."

"Best not to worry over trivial things," Duero said before studying the plumbing diagrams that he had drawn from his back pack.

"True, true." Parfait said before brandishing her tools once again.

-oOo-

Dita, now resolved in making peace with her romantic rival, was already on her way towards the hanger where she had last seen the Plutonian.

With her was a group of people composed of William, Barnette, Ezra, Seran, Kahlua, and Pyroro bringing up the rear.

Originally, it was just supposed to be William who had returned the sleeping babe back to her mother but the others had joined them simply because they had nothing else to do.

The redhead did entertain some evil thoughts about the other girls being there just to tease her and her crush instead.

After the massive door had opened with a hiss, the sight of Misty hugging a somewhat paralyzed Hibiki had greeted them.

Unable to control her emotions, Dita had once again fled the scene… in tears. Hibiki and Misty had exited the hanger with the latter trying to keep the former from moving another inch.

Barnette and Ezra had nodded to each other before giving chase to the crying girl.

As for the others, they were more interested in keeping the peace before things would go to hell especially with Kahlua throwing a tantrum thanks to the ruckus.

To prove his newfound feelings to his friends, Hibiki had confessed softly that Dita held a special place in his heart.

He then used the stunned expression of the others especially Misty's to break free before running in the direction where the other girls had gotten to be.

Misty was so shocked that she had let go of her crush and sank to her knees, sobbing. But before anyone could even comfort her, the Plutonian had also stood up and bolted in another direction.

"Pyroro, take care of Kahlua for us." William said in a low voice after seeing that everyone else had left the area as he gave the (thankfully) sleeping babe back to the egg-shaped robot. "Seran, we're launching ahead of schedule so let's head for the bridge."

"Gotcha, commander." Seran said in a softer voice with a jaunty salute before the Filipino had chased her across the hall in response. "Bye bye, Kahlua. You too, Pyroro."

-oOo-

Back in the cafeteria, Celtic had noticed the new drama unfolding before her in the small screen. She had gone back to the cafeteria for another snack while letting her girlfriend join Dita and the others.

The blue haired operator then turned to the others who had gotten to exchange gossips since nothing interesting had been happening till then before saying.

"It seems that things are getting way out of control, Jura."

"Yeah," Amara added as she was the first to hear the given news and quickly sat down beside her friend who at the moment had her chin resting on her hands. "I've never seen Dita that emotional before."

"That's it, I've had enough." Jura said with her hands slamming on the table. The said thump was more than enough to silence everyone else in their surprise and fear.

Seeing her dainty hands on the table, Jura then remarked. "Dang, I hope I didn't break a fingernail."

"Jura!" Everyone said while their palms had hit their faces.

"Stop lookin' at me like that," Jura replied just as angrily. "I've got a plan."

-oOo-

Hibiki had lost Dita during the chase once again, this time with some help from Pyroro and the newly-awakened Kahlua who had caught up with him.

The nav-robot was ordered by Ezra, who had separated from the other two and doubled back, to keep the Vanguard pilot busy and if possible, get him to join the patrol.

"Can't do patrols," The Vanguard pilot replied as he had sat down inside his mecha along with the baby and its robotic nanny, ten minutes later. "I'm too messed up."

Both William and Seran had already taken off in their respective machines and were now taking their positions just outside the Nirvana.

Kahlua was busy playing with the Vanguard's control sticks but in reality, she was pretty much under control.

Hibiki's depression had been partly cured by the presence of the little one as well as the fact that his mecha had looked tougher and more powerful for some reason.

This was why he was more or less calm and collected during his conversation with Pyroro. The little egg machine had hovered a bit on the Taraakan's left side just past the opened hatch.

"Why do you humans make stupid mistakes like that in the first place?" the little egg robot said with a bit of a whine as Hibiki had gotten the child secured in his lap.

"I guess it's just us bein' human," The Vanguard pilot said with a shrug before giving part of his attention to the baby which was trying her best to move the levers by herself before yawning in her tiredness. "I mean, we can't always do everything right."

"I guess it is time for me to take Pyroro 2 back to her fama," Pyroro said as he had lifted the now drowsy babe in his arms. "By the way, Jura wants you in the debriefing room ASAP."

"Alright," Hibiki said as he too had exited his machine. "Wonder what she wants."

-oOo-

While Hibiki was having a man to robot talk with Pyroro, Dita was being comforted by both Ezra and Barnette in the operator's room.

Two of them were sitting on Ezra's bed while the last was still standing over both of them.

"Dita, I know Hibiki wouldn't do that." The brown haired operator was saying to the sobbing red head before her. "He's probably just as surprised as we were."

"Ezra's got a point, y'know." Barnette had added as she had sat down on Dita's left and placed a hand on her fellow crewmember's shoulder. "As dumb as he is, he knows for a fact that you and he have a special bond, a bond that we only see in those people who end up with each other later on."

"I should believe you both…" The dread pilot had started before breaking into sobs once again.

Dita then said through her sobs. "Yet, I couldn't help the tears from falling."

"Then let it out," the newly appointed registry chief said gently as she had hugged the younger pilot. "Let it all out."

The sounds of sobbing had died down after awhile. Both older women were happy for the silence that had followed before it was sliced open by Jura's transmission in the squawk box.

"Dita Liebly, please report to the debriefing room immediately. We've got some new formations and tactics to discuss."

"Guess that means we've gotta be going too." Barnette said as she had stood up before helping Dita up.

"I guess so," Dita said as she had made her way to the door. "Good bye… and thanks."

"You're welcome," Ezra said as she too had followed Barnette's lead out of the room. "We'll see you later."

-oOo-

The red headed dread pilot had arrived at the debriefing room, ten minutes later.

She was taken aback by the sight that had greeted her upon her arrival- Hibiki sitting on one of the curved chairs and only looking up at when she had arrived.

Thus the first words that had come out of Dita's mouth were. "Where's William and Seran?"

The Vanguard pilot had recovered from his shock just enough to reply. "Both of 'em had gone on patrol early."

"So why didn't you join them?" Dita asked since she would have thought that her crush would have jumped at the chance to take his machine out for a spin.

"I-I can't tell ya," Hibiki replied as he had looked at the carpet below him.

"I understand."

With those words, Dita had taken a seat on the only seat available to her- the one next to the Vanguard pilot.

Both pilots had jumped at the sudden bleep that had confirmed that their only way out was locked.

As if a hidden switch had been activated, Jura's livid face had shown up in the video screen before the couple.

"Hey, don't you know how much trouble I had gone through just to get you love birds in there?" Jura was saying as if she was annoyed that all her hard work had gone down the drain.

Come to think of it, she had a right to be annoyed.

After the blonde dread team second in command had calmed down, she had added. "I've brought you both here to settle whatever difference you have. Don't even ask how I know, I just do."

"Well, we've done as you said so how 'bout letting us go." Hibiki was slowly losing his temper as he spoke.

"Ah, ah, ah." Jura was wagging her fingers at the screen as she replied. "I don't think you've even gone through half of what you're supposed to do. I'll open the door when you do kiss and make up. Be good, kids."

"Shut up!" The Vanguard pilot had screamed at the now blinking out screen. Turning to his fellow pilot, the Taraakan was trying to apologize but the red head had beaten him to it.

"I'm sorry for running out back there."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Hibiki said with a slight smile and a bit of a red tint on his cheeks. "I should've explained why Misty was hugging me that time."

"No, no." Dita was saying while waving her hands in front of her. "It was my fault that things had soured between you and Misty."

"Wait a minute; I'm getting a little lost here." The Taraakan pilot said while scratching his head. "How about backin' up a bit there?"

"Uh, it's nothing."

"So why're you so red if it's 'nothing'?"

"I'd rather not tell you."

"Oh, c'mon."

"No."

In the midst of this amusing argument, neither pilot had actually known that they were being watched all throughout the Nirvana as well as the patrolling dread and winged gundum.

Reactions to the broadcasted conversation had ranged from curiosity to smugness.

It was during a particularly funny point of the visceral drama that Misty had stumbled on the ring leaders of the current reality show.

"No wonder I couldn't even win against Dita." The Plutonian said as she had leaned on the wall past the mess hall's hatch, her precious yellow blob glaring at the puzzled purveyors. "I have to contend with all 150 of you. I guess that's how important friendship is to you guys."

Before turning around to make a graceful exit, Misty then added. "Don't let me spoil your fun."

Unknown to most of the pirates in the mess hall, a tear had actually fallen from the Plutonian's right eye while she was turning to the now opening hatch. No one except Meia had even noticed this.

"I'm gonna check up on her," The Dread leader said as she had reached the door in a few long strides. "Don't wait up for me."

"We won't," Amarone replied for a moment before getting back to the action in the small screen.

-oOo-

After a span of twenty minutes, Meia had found her quarry sitting on a bench nearest to the bridge as the light blue haired pilot had scoured the park like meeting place beneath and in front of the bridge.

Misty did not hear the arrival of the older teen since she was too busy crying her heart out. It was only when her holographic pet had squeaked a bit, did the Plutonian understood that she was not alone.

"If you're going to lecture me, at least do it some other time." Misty said with acid in her tone.

Meia was initially caught by surprise by Misty's words since it was right on the money. The Pirate's version of an air boss then realized that she was there for another reason than giving a stern reprimand on an emotionally charged teenager.

"Look, I've realized that you're alone and in need of a friend." The older teen said with what she had hoped was a reassuring smile. "Don't forget that you're part of the crew now and thus, we're all here for you."

Misty's eyes had watered at the reassuring words, her holographic pet doing the same rather comically.

The smaller girl then closed the distance between her and the shocked pilot before enveloping the latter in a big hug.

"Big sister," Misty cried with what seemed to be tears of happiness rather than sorrow.

Meia was actually dazed and confused by the younger teen's actions and thus was not to able to respond to Misty's "Thank you."

Unknown to the dread ace, her priceless expression was caught on camera since Seran had already freed a very grateful nurse from her cool prison in the mess hall before joining William in the hanger.

Leave it to Pyroro to leave our little muckraker literally in the cooler.

The brunette pilot in training then headed for the rear hanger where William was impatiently waiting for her.

Thankfully for all of those who were experiencing some sort of embarrassing moment, the harvest fleet had arrived to save them from further humiliation.

As for those who were watching the reality "show" with avid interest, they had turned off their screens before heading to their respective battle stations with heavy sighs.

The only two exemptions to the rule were William and Seran who had gotten their ships' weapons systems and themselves ready for the battle ahead.

-oOo-

Back in the ship, a relieved Meia had given Misty a quick wave of good bye as she ran for the bow hanger where her dread was made ready.

"Be safe, Sis." Misty yelled loudly at the blushing pilot while waving wildly. "Good luck."

As for the lovebirds, Hibiki had gotten his right hand move to his back as if hoping that the red head would clasp it with her own as they had run past the opening hatch.

Dita had made a little squeal as she had held the Taraakan's hand with both of her own as they had rushed the hallways towards the mechas.

Fifteen minutes later, the rest of the Dreads plus a newly upgraded Vanguard had joined the waiting gundum and dread patrol. After Vandread Dita was formed, the whole air group then rushed towards their nearing enemies.

-oOo-

Two weeks had come and gone with most of the Nirvana crew finding themselves scurrying like ants before a rainy day.

One would be hard pressed to know why this was even happening as is the case with the male members of the crew but that is another story to be told a little later.

It never occurred to the curious viewer (reader in this case) that the whole hubbub is simply a certain Dread Leader's or Air Boss' birthday.

Oddly enough, the aforementioned leader would find a flurry of movement whenever she would be or rather be since everyone else was involved in something not to her liking.

That something is the fact that Meia's crewmates, especially the dread pilots under her command, would hide balloons, pastries, party items, costumes or just the usual birthday party paraphernalia away from her.

In response, the dread ace would act natural (read: nonchalant) as if she did not even see the flurry of activities in the first place.

Like I had said before, the three Taraakans were confused as to what the whole deal was with the keeping things a secret from Meia bit.

Thankfully, Dita had explained enough about birthdays that they had somewhat understood the reasoning behind it all.

William did pity Meia since he himself did not enjoy parties especially surprise ones. Even then, he had offered his assistance to the grateful red head along with the others.

-oOo-

It was really fitting to see that the very last person to actually know about Meia's birthday was also the latest among the new recruits – Misty.

She had met her "Big Sis" after they were both told not to enter the bridge. Both girls were heading there for two different reasons; Meia was trying to ask for permission to do some early patrols while Misty was asking for her new commission.

"Let's try the mess hall," Misty said after they were had recovered from their surprise. "A nice cup of tea always drives my anxieties away."

"Why not?" Meia said with a crooked smile as she had looked down at the new recruit. "I need something to calm me down anyways."

"Is there something wrong?" the Plutonian said with a worried look at her new friend.

"Nah," Meia said with a wave of her hand. "I'm ok."

"Now I know something's wrong," Misty said as she had snaked a hand around the taller girl's left arm.

"How do you figure that?" the dread ace said since she was puzzled as to how Misty was able to see through her deception.

"Dad…" Misty had to stop since she had remembered her parents that she had lost all those years ago. "Sorry, I've lost my parents ever since the harverster's attack."

"You're not the only one," Meia said with a wry smile. "I've lost mine too, but for a different reason."

"Mind if we swap stories?" Misty said with a hopeful face. "It may help us cope."

"Sure."

So the two light blue haired teens had talked about their past including their parents that they have lost. They were so lost in conversation that they had missed plenty of activity around them.

And wouldn't you know it, both girls did feel better that they could finally talk to someone who could understand how painful it was to lose not only one parent but two.

After entering the mess hall, the two young women had found Barnette, wearing only an apron and her boots, emerging from the kitchen with what looked like a four tiered chocolate cake in her hands.

A quick glance to their right had resulted in the amusing scene of Dita and some others waving widely (and wildly) as if telling the confused green haired Reg chief about something dangerous.

Barnette then looked into the suspicious glare by her former boss as well as the mystified stare of the Plutonian (Oh my god, I made a funny) before saying in an uncertain tone.

"Uh, hi-ya, Meia."

After a moment, Midori had broken the silence by saying. "Uh, don't we have a training session to attend to?"

Seiran quickly answered with a rapid nod. "Uh, yeah."

Both young teens then stood up from their table and went for the door with a quick goodbye and its corresponding salute.

Amarone stood up before telling Barnette. "Uh, I think the Boss is calling me for some fuel calculation. See ya."

Dita had followed suit by adding. "Wait for me, I need to quan-whatever that is my suit's fuel gauge too."

Barnette then said with a bow as she had grabbed the cake and walked briskly towards the kitchen. "Um, I'll just leave this for William, Hibiki, and Kahlua. Bye."

After the near miss and the culprits had been seen running like rats from a sinking ship, Misty then turned to Meia and asked. "What was that all about?"

"If you've got an hour, I'll be more than happy to tell you." The Dread leader answered wryly as she had led her younger companion to another table before going to the automatic counter to get the tea.

An hour did pass before Misty had heard the whole sad tale about her "big sister" had celebrated her birthdays with her parents before the accident in the colony where Meia had lived.

The younger girl still cried at how Meia had lost her Ohma or father figure in the said accident while her Fama or mother figure had gotten sick in the later years.

The older teen had cried as well but she did wipe away the younger girl's eyes much like she would do with a younger sibling.

The story had gone on how Meia had run away from home before getting involved with some gangs in a certain colony's rough spots.

The dread leader then described how she was taken in by Magno and trained in the fighting arts and how to pilot a dread.

Finally, Meia had explained that she did not even tell anyone of her birthday since it would only remind her of her painful past even though the pirates still tried to get her to enjoy one with disastrous results.

"So until now, you still strive to be the best so you wouldn't feel weak?" Misty was saying before realizing her slip of the tongue and apologized.

"Back then, yeah." Meia answered with a crooked grin, happy to have exorcised her demons during her comatose state. "Now, I've got competition in William, Hibiki, Barnette, and surprisingly, even Dita."

"Dita's being competitive too?"

"Well, not exactly." Meia said while rubbing the back of her head that had reminded the younger girl of Hibiki and even William. "She's still trying to keep up with the rest of us and is actually succeeding in doing so. Even Seran's getting better as a fighter and pilot."

"Oh," Misty replied before looking down at her half-spent tea cup.

"You can help in the bridge if you want to," Meia was saying with a warm smile as she was beginning to enjoy her new role. "Or if you're great with machines, join Parfeit and her engineering team."

After a short pause, the dread leader then added. "You could even work in the Registry or the clinic. There are lots of ways in joining our motley group that doesn't involve piloting a dread or a vanguard…or even a gundum."

"Hmm," the Plutonian was saying as she had tapped her chin in thought. "I've always wanted to be a nurse someday and that I did read some of mom's medical books so…"

"You're working as a nurse huh?"

"Yep."

"Nice choice since I do need someone to keep an eye on a certain nurse doubling as a photographer."

"Hey, I think Paiway had taken a great picture of you back then." Misty said quickly. "I also have the only copy of the picture in my photo album."

"You're not giving it to me, aren't you?"

"Of course not."

-oOo-

While the blue haired teens were talking in the cafeteria, Dita had called for an emergency meeting in the situation room.

"So any ideas on keeping Meia busy while we prepare for the surprise party," the red headed teen was asking the two male pilots. "We tried everything only for it to blow up in our collective faces."

"Let's study what we do know first," Hibiki said in response as he had wondered as to why a meeting was necessary in order to make a surprise party. "Meia knows what she's doin' so should we."

"Kid's got a point," a fully clothed Barnette had added from Dita's right before glancing at the puzzled Taraakan pilot. "You're learning a lot from us, ain'tcha?"

"Will ya quit doin; that?" Hibiki said in reply. "You're giving me goose bumps."

"Before we got out of topic here, please continue Dita." William said as he had pulled the younger pilot to him by the shoulder and adding in a whisper to keep his pants on.

The same was done by a surprisingly strong Ezra with some help from Celtic who was sitting on the other side of the brunette controller.

"Ok, most of the time Meia would weasel her way out of this by doing patrol for nearly the whole day." Dita said in response to Hibiki's point. "We tried to block her way to her dread only for her to pull rank and get her way after all."

"Ok, what did you do next?" Duero had asked since he had gotten interested in the planning as well as knowing how the stern Dread leader ticks.

"We tried to surprise her as soon as she woke up in her room," Barnette then added her own part to the discussion. "You can imagine what happened afterwards."

"I'm guessing it's not pretty," William then spoke up from his position on Hibiki's left.

"That's putting it mildly," Barnette said with a sigh, remembering her own role in the said fiasco. "Meia had gotten the Boss to permit her to train us in flight maneuvers and boy did she have us making rolls, loops, and turns like you wouldn't believe."

"I remember getting sick after a few of those, one after the other." Jura, who had just gotten in the situation room after assuring Seran that she was not Meia, had added with a groan. "Ugh, it did pay off though much later in actual combat."

"Anything else?" Bart had spoken up, also interested in the stories given.

"How about the time when I tried to sabotage, well more like ensuring, that based on her pre-flight check, her dread would not be ready for takeoff," Parfeit had added from Seran's left side. "Now that was a disaster waiting to happen."

"Ok…" the visitors said at the awkward turn of the conversation.

"Man, I was denied in getting out of her dread's bay until lunch before I had the bird up and running with her doing patrols after that." The pigtailed mechanic said with woe. "I couldn't even feel my fingers after painstakingly getting each every bolt and nut as secured as it could be for flight. Not to mention the power systems and exhaust pipes."

Duero had patted his comrade in (technical) arms' left shoulder that the girl had been grateful for.

"So do we have anything to actually pin Meia into a corner and actually get her to stay for once?" Hibiki was saying as his impatience was beginning to show.

"Well, there is one crew member that we are still not sure on how she would react to." Seran then said after getting an idea.

"Who?"

"Well, Kahlua."

Everybody's eyes then locked to on the little cheerful baby in her pink overalls that was surrounded by Ezra's arms, who still sat beside Barnette.

Ezra herself was feeling a bit anxious on having her only child being used as bait to trap Meia as she had tried to corral the rambunctious child who was now marching on her legs.

-oOo-

Meia was later seen holding the crying red-headed baby while Ezra was herself trying to be strong while embracing and being embraced in turn by a half-confused and half-understanding gundum pilot.

The light blue haired flight leader had to admit to herself that this latest maneuver had caught her by complete surprise as this would be the first time that she actually held the baby longer than ten seconds.

She did try to calm the baby down amidst the chaos from the other pirates either taking pictures or just gushing like there was no tomorrow.

Meia did contemplate on giving back the baby to her mother if not for Ezra herself telling her that Kahlua seems to be magnetized to dreads and other mecha for some reason.

This would mean that the child may become either a pilot or a mechanic, both of which would need a mentor to guide her and who would be more of a mentor material than Meia herself.

Compounding the dread leader's trouble was the fact that klaxons were once again blaring for immediate action, defensive action that is.

"Damn it, I've gotta return Kahlua to her crib fast before I could join the others." Meia was softly saying to herself as she had clutched the frightened baby closer to her and began to run.

Missile hits that rocked the whole ship were not making Meia's effort to join her wing and get the baby to safety any easier. She could already see the dreads that had taken off and formed up along with the Vanguard and gundum also moving into her field of vision.

In her confused state, Meia did not notice that she had stumbled into a malfunctioning escape pod that the engineering team was supposed to fix if they were not distracted at the moment.

Outside, a battle for survival was happening around Nirvana as another pod along with even more unwanted visitors had tangled with the scrambled dreads.

With Meia gone, Jura had once again taken command with Dita now forced to take second in command.

Barnette was also out in the battle field, refueling and rearming dreads to keep them in the battle while also tearing down cube formations with the supply ship's armaments.

Hibiki and even Bart had helped the girls destroy the incessant cubes since William already has his hands full with the gundum copy, both winged gundum and its copy had chosen an empty sector of space to continue their duel.

-oOo-

Back in the Nirvana, Misty had immediately noticed that someone was missing in the pilot roster. She was not the only one though as Ezra had also remembered about her one and only child.

Ezra then became hysterical at the fact that she would lose her child to a Harvester attack with the other crew members calming her down. It was to their relief that the remaining cubes had broken off from the battle and took a new vector instead.

Even Dark Wing Zero had left suddenly after giving the original winged gundum a wide angled plasma beam to the face, the attack was negated by the sudden activation of the planet defenders.

"What the fuck was that all about?" William was saying in the cockpit after opening his eyes. "Where is everyone going anyway?"

"I had just detected a single floating object about a hundred miles from us and drifting even further at a constant speed of twenty miles per hour," Zero said in reply. "It may be an escape pod that was jettisoned accidentally during the battle."

"It is," Amarone had added in the command net. "Meia and Kahlua are in there so get your behinds in gear."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Hibiki had answered as he too had gotten the transmission along with everyone else as he had gotten Vandread Dita to change course. "I'm on my way."

"All dreads, get that pod to safety," Jura added as she and Barnette had changed course to rescue the pod. "William, your job is to keep that 'friend' of yours out of our way."

"I read you, Jura." William was saying as he had Wing Zero switch to Neo Bird mode. "I'm heading out."

The other dreads that were relatively unscathed had followed the two lead crafts with both bipedal mechas joining them.

-oOo-

Back in the hopelessly floating pod, a worried Meia was trying her best to calm the little babe in her arms.

At wit's end, she then remembered the times that her mother had been for her ever since she was a child and had blindly run through her memories in order to find out on how to calm the baby down.

A quick peek had shown her strange black spots that were shaped like cubes and concluded that they were there for her and Kahlua.

In the moment of desperation, Meia had finally found out the solution to her problems. She had sung a lullaby that her mother had sung for her while rummaging around the pod's interior for a space suit with only one hand.

Meia then put the now calmed toddler within the suit and turned on its life support system as the pod was rocked with explosions from all over the place.

The dread leader then prepared to jump out of the shaken pod in the hopes that Kahlua would still be found alive as they drift off into space.

On the count of three, Meia then released the emergency door lock and jumped…only to find herself within the supply ship's hold as a fierce battle was raging outside.

The supply ship's shields held as the dreads and bipedal mecha were making short work of the remaining enemy units until the latter group had started to make a hasty retreat with Dark Wing Zero providing the needed cover fire.

"What, but how, I mean how did you find us?" Meia was for once flustered and at a loss for words as she was caught in an tight embrace by a tearful Ezra who had somehow hitched a ride on the supply ship before the chase.

"We just followed the homing beacon of this pod after isolating it from the signals from everything else," Barnette answered with a shrug. "Besides, you should thank Celtic and Zero for noticing the signal before everyone else did so we were able to home in on it."

Speaking of the gundum, Wing Zero had finally disarmed its Harvest made doppelganger in a duel of swords to keep it as far away from the escape pod as possible.

It then proceeded to slash all four of its limbs as the harvest copy had continued to struggle past the winged gundum's stubborn defense and help its fellow Harvester craft gain more time to escape since their plan to snare two possible specimens (with one of them - Kahlua being more important) was torn to pieces.

Vandread Dita had stood guard near the supply ship, its energy tonfas sparkling with power. After a little while, it had let its guard down as the pods were either destroyed or were running away.

A happy Seran was being congratulated by her now girlfriend Celtic in the airwaves for earning her tenth cube kill, making her a Pirate equivalent to a fighter ace.

The intercom was then full of queries about Meia and her little charge being alright with William saying that he was relieved to see them OK.

Hibiki then teased his superior on being a great pilot, but a lousy caretaker. Dita's shushing could be heard before the line was disconnected.

Barnette then said to keep her superior from losing her temper by saying. "Y'know, Meia. You sure look pretty cute right now with Kahlua in your arms."

The dread leader could only lightly blush as she had heard the given compliment.

-oOo-

Hours later, Meia was once again talking to Misty who was gushing non-stop at how the former could sacrifice herself for the baby.

Neither of them had realized that an ambush of amusing proportions was awaiting them in the next corner.

As soon as they had reached the corner, a group composed of Hibiki, Bart, Dita, Jura, Barnette, and Pyroro had jumped in front of them while yelling surprise and launching party favors in the air.

Across the said hall and slowly moving further away, a pilot and a bridge crewman were talking about how scared they were about nearly losing the baby. Both of which had certain soft spots for the little one who was resting on her mother's arms.

Their conversation had stopped short when they had heard Misty saying. "Uh, Sis. Why are you looking at them like that?"

This was followed by Hibiki shouting in panic. "Run for your lives."

William had heard the noise of footsteps approaching and gently pushed the mother and daughter tandem to the other bulkhead to avoid getting pushed out of the way.

They had ignored the teasing from the passing group that varied from: "You guys are too cute" to "Remember, Zapanta. She's already hitched."

"So is anyone up for a quick snack in the mess hall?" The gundum pilot said with a teasing smile. "I've heard that they've got cake."

"I am," Ezra replied with a giggle that her daughter had mimicked. "Let's go."

The couple was later seen heading for the mess hall, hand in hand, the child now resting on the young man's right shoulder.

* * *

The ending of this chapter is just a glimpse of the proverbial calm before the storm since this story will end with a bang as it would start with Hibiki's rebirth and it would end with an interstellar battle of epic proportions as the last vestiges of mankind will fight it out for survival against the Harvest fleet.

The said fleet is composed of technological and somewhat organic marvels that were made by the inhabitants of a changed Earth - humans that could never evolve or reproduce and thus require the body parts of their fellow humans that had made colonies in the stars.

Unlike this chapter and the others before it, I will not post the final chapter in a week, but sometime before the year is over, as I will rework and revise the chapter that I am still typing in my computer.

With that said, farewell and Happy Holidays.


	10. Grand Finale

For everyone who had been reading this, I give you my eternal gratitude as I had tried my hardest to make this story from a figment of my imagination to a readable fan fiction that you are reading now.

I am sorry if I was not able to post this chapter before New Year's Day for some of you, but I had actually started from scratch.

I was not really able to make this chapter until two weeks ago and thus it had taken me this long to make it (and in not so well written way either).

Still, I am happy to have finished my first story and I guess it is enough that it was read by so many people (276 hits at last count).

As my belated Christmas and (hopefully on time) New Year's present to you, I now give you the tenth and final chapter of the Flight of the Intruders aptly named...

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Grand Finale **

The Nirvana had just entered the cosmic storm that had plagued the first planetary pioneer mission and caused them to go separate ways.

You might even say that it was thanks to this storm that had actually shaped the destinies of the remaining humans in the universe especially those in Mejeera and Taraark beyond it.

Both Vandread Jura and Wing Zero had gone out to act as scouts to the Nirvana since the cosmic storm was wreaking havoc with the long range sensors and thus the crew could only see as far as twenty kilometers all around it.

Even then, the results were a bit fuzzy due to very strong magnetic interference and visual sensors were not that much better. All anyone could outside their canopies or eye cameras were strangely shaped cloud like formations, asteroids, and lightning as far as their perspective horizon.

Not to mention, a few Harvester pods had caught up to them and thus cubes and some of the Vandread copies including Dark Wing Zero had kept them busy.

The other dreads were launched with Dita taking Jura's place in the Vandread roster to provide the needed offensive power.

The battle was short and sweet with the Nirvana's lasers aiding the dreads in making short work of the pods and vandread copies it could see with Wing Zero making its copy disappear in the storm along with the others in an explosion.

The one big drawback to the whole battle was that the Vanguard had somehow separated from the group (and its partner dread) with Hibiki's craft chased by a Vandread Jura copy even further into the storm before both Vandread and copy had disappeared from the dreads, Zero's, and even the Nirvana's sensors.

Dita was forced to turn back along with the others since they could be lost as well; she was later seen in the hanger door crying on the gundum pilot's right shoulder.

Meia had blamed herself for not being an effective leader with Jura also sharing the blame as she was supposed to keep tabs on her fellow pilots despite the difficulties in doing so.

"Hey, calm down." William was saying while stroking the crying girl's long red hair gently. "If I know Hibiki, he'll make his way back…eventually."

"Really?" The red headed dread pilot said with watery eyes as she had separated from the taller pilot and looked up.

"Yes, nobody keeps a good man down and Hibiki is one good man in my book."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Dita replied as she had once again hugged the gundum pilot. "I knew that Mister Alien would come back to us."

"You're a pretty good man too, Zapanta." Barnette said with a relieved smile as she had also deplaned from her craft. "It's evident that you care for Tokai much like a brother."

"In some ways, he is my brother." The Filipino said as he had continued to stroke at Dita's hair. "And if there is any way we can find his whereabouts, I'll be joining Dita here in picking him up and bringing him home."

"Well, let's make sure that we can find him in this mess." Meia replied as her own hopes of regaining her confidence in her leadership and a good friend were rekindled by the gundum pilot's words.

-oOo-

We find our diminutive hero lying face down on what seemed to be a desert and his Vanguard was nowhere to be seen. This had clearly spooked the outspoken pilot as he had looked as far as he could see to find his mecha, no dice.

Hibiki had chosen to walk in any direction he could think off, hoping to find his beloved machine. The Vanguard pilot had thought that he could handle the arid landscape considering that Taraak is not exactly a garden planet either, well he was wrong.

After an hour of walking in random directions, Hibiki had forgotten the first rule in crossing a dessert or any arid land– respect it.

He did not think of looking for a place with sufficient shade and had even forgotten to look for any water supply in his zest to find his Vanguard. This was why Hibiki was found by a group of men fifteen minutes later, passed out on the sand.

The Taraakan had briefly woken only to say "Who are you guys?" before passing out once again.

One of the men who had surrounded the fallen pilot then said. 'He would not last long in this heat. Let us take him with us to shelter.'

'But Kokoperi, how could we know if he is not of the harvest spies?' a young man had asked his elder. "Surely, they could have used a human to spy on us."

'Do you hear what you are actually saying, Tatanaka?'

"My apologies, Chief."

'Everyone let us bring this young man to my home so we could revive him and guide him on his quest as he had seen Sam.'

There was a murmur of mental thoughts going around, but in the end, they had carried Hibiki as they were told.

It was sometime after that Hibiki had woken up on his own accord. Upon realizing where he was and who he was dealing with after being given some soup, he then started a rant about them joining the fight against the Harvest Fleet and their Masters – the Earth dwellers.

'No, we cannot.' Kokoperi then answered mentally. 'Even if the Earthlings had cut off our tongues and left us here in this desolate world for many generations, we did not think badly of them. We could even thank them for giving us the opportunity to communicate with the spirits.'

"But aren't you afraid of being Harvested as well?"

'They are afraid of us, afraid of what we are capable of,' the old Chief continued as if expecting the given question. 'Even with their technology, they could cannot connect with the spirits like we do and thus they left us alone for they are afraid of the spirits' true power.'

Seeing the Taraakan's confused look, Kokoperi then said. 'You must have seen the negative consciousness since you are hasty and also because you are afraid. Thus, we would not fight simply because of hate.'

"I am not afraid," Hibiki said before groaning at the sudden numbness in his legs as he had tried to stand up only to fall down once again. "But why won't you even fight to protect your own people."

'Acting on one's fear begets nothing except recklessness,' the wizened chief replied mentally. 'As a wise being from long ago once said – 'Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.' Also, victory is not found in battles of hate, but in battles of courage.'

"I don't get it," The Taraakan then said while rubbing his head in confusion. "How does fighting to protect differ from fighting with courage?"

'It is not yet our time to fight as we do not have a reason to do so,' one of the council members sitting to Tatanaka's right mentally spoke in reply. 'The Earth is simply ignoring that we exist as they could never understand our relationship with the spirits and neither could they actually possess such a relationship themselves.'

"Well, that makes some sort of sense." Hibiki then replied after a moment. He then slowly stood up in order to keep the blood vessels on his legs moving fluidly. "I guess I need to go since I have to find my partner."

'Is your partner the large humanoid machine with swords on its back?' Tatanaka then asked.

"Yes, do you know where it is?"

'Yes, but first the Chief would like to ask you to do something for him.'

"Alright."

'Mister Tokai, since you yourself had seen a spirit; we would like you to train your mind in the Cave of the Spirits." Kokoperi said with certain firmness in his mental voice. 'In the meantime, we will fetch your machine.'

"It's a deal," Hibiki said as he and the Chief had clasped hands in a firm handshake.

-oOo-

Meanwhile, back in the Nirvana, Dita had contacted the bridge if she could look for Hibiki despite the low visibility outside.

This was mirrored by Meia, Jura, and even Barnette who had volunteered to do the same considering that the Nirvana had anchored itself to a large asteroid to keep itself in place.

Misty herself had gone to the bridge herself with both Seran and William chasing her to keep her from a nasty spill.

"I would like to join the search by means of the Nirvana's long range radar," the fourteen year old said with fire in her eyes.

"We'll help search for Hibiki as well," William said in behalf of himself and Seran. "I believe that he's out there somewhere and with enough effort, we'll find him."

"Well, I'll leave this one to you, BC." Magno said with a chuckle. "It makes me glad that all of you are concerned for a fellow crew member. So carry on."

No one had heard the slight grunt from the door behind the captain's chair as Magno had suffered a mild stroke before recovering in a flash.

"I want all pilots grounded until we know for sure where Tokai is," BC said with all seriousness. "For now, it's best that we use whatever other resources in our disposal to look for him."

"Yes, Ma'am." A slightly deflated set of teens said as they had left the bridge or turned off the communication gear.

"Ma'am, wouldn't be alright if we let Zero out since it does have long range radar?" Amarone then asked her superior.

"Yes, it would be a good chance of finding Hibiki using William and his gundum but if we were under attack by the copies or Dark Wing Zero then we would then be in big trouble."

"I see your point, Ma'am."

-oOo-

In the meantime, the others had gone to work in their own ways to express their support for the missing pilot and friend.

Meia, Jura, Dita, and Barnette were all huddled with Misty in the Radar room with William in Wing Zero and Bart in his cockpit.

All of them were busy looking for Hibiki's last known whereabouts and hoping to pick up any signal from the Vanguard and use it as a beacon.

Even Duero was trying his best to find any medical records for Hibiki in case he was injured upon his return. This did not get past Paiway or Parfeit with the latter's admiration for the younger man growing even more.

-oOo-

It had taken a good half-hour before Chief Kokoperi, the council member that spoke to Hibiki, and the Vanguard pilot himself had reached the cave in question.

"So all I have to do is get to the top?"

'Yes, that is all you have to do.'

Hibiki had cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "Alright, here I go."

After pumping himself up, the Vanguard pilot then continued on into the barely lighted cave with the intent of training his mind and proving his own worth.

As the Taraakan was slowly climbing up the sheer cliff with only his hands and booted feet propelling him up, he was assaulted by voices of his past echoing in his head. The familiar voices were those who had ridiculed him and the words that he had spoken before.

One would not be surprised that Hibiki had lost a handhold and fell, only to come back more determined than ever.

Again, voices had echoed in his head, but unlike before it was more of the words that had given him the need push and the mental images were those of his friends that were ready to pull him up whenever he was down.

Even then, a particularly annoying voice (it had reminded him of Pyroro's for some reason) had asked him questions as to what he is and what his reason for being is.

"I can't say anything more than being a human," Hibiki answered with a chuckle as he had found another foothold while his calloused hands were steadying him. "As for the second question, I guess I'll give you Zero's answer in that 'I'm the one who could find the answers which I myself seek'."

"A valid answer; given the complexities of the subject matter."

"Yeah, well." Hibiki said as he had stopped for a bit to catch his breath and regain his bearings. "Before I met the people who have become my friends, I was alone. I was thinking that I can do everything without any help, and I was proven wrong."

Hibiki was then pulled into the sub-space within the Paeksis as they had continued the interrogation.

"What are friends? What is their importance for the one called Hibiki?" The Paeksis then asked as its outer bluish layer had sparkled brightly with lightning jumping around its crust.

"Well, friends are those who watch over you and help you stand when you fall." The Vanguard pilot said with glee as he had now realized where he was. "Tell me, Paeksis. Do you consider Wing Zero as your friend?"

Taken aback by the question given to it, the Paeksis had pondered for a few minutes before giving an answer.

"Yes, Zero has been a good companion to me ever since we had exchanged information with each other months ago."

"Well, that is what William, Dita, Meia, and the rest are to me too."

"I can see now why friendship is so valued by your species."

"Hey, every living being including you can have a friend." Hibiki was saying with utmost glee at making yet another friend even if it is not human. "Zero may not be organic, but in a sense he is just as alive as we are."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you for making me realize that I had to work even harder and become even stronger just to protect all of you."

The Taraakan had found himself back to the ledge he was originally on and continued climbing.

-oOo-

While this was going on, Kokoperi and his companion were talking down below and just a little ways inside the cave. Both had heard the soft thud that had resulted from Hibiki's fall earlier along with his grunt as he had gotten up and climbed once again.

'It would seem that boy may not surpass his own limitations, Chief.' The Council member said with a mental sigh. 'He may have bitten off more than he could chew.'

'I see in that boy's eyes the same thing as Sam's own when he came here,' Kokoperi replied with a calm tone. 'He will succeed and draw courage from it.'

Suddenly Butan had shown up and hugged the surprised Councilman. Both he and his Chief had looked up to see Sam or to be more accurate – Rabat.

'Sam, it has been a long time since you have visited us.' Kokoperi said with surprise. 'It would seem that this boy Hibiki had contact with the spirits seeing that he has the Blue Kachina.

"No, he not only has the Blue Giant, but also White Wing, and Red Claw." Rabat replied quickly.

'I see,' Kokoperi then said as he had continued the ceremony for the introduction of a new warrior into the tribe. 'Then, Hibiki must be the Chosen One. I am sorry, Sam.'

Rabat then replied simply. "Don't be. From what I could see, he deserves it more than I do."

The colored sand had ended up in a circular painted drawing on the ground depicting Hibiki being surrounded by representations of the Vandreads, ten figures (two of which were not even human) and one hundred and fifty figures that line up around the edge of the circle with some stars and planets being drawn around the whole circle itself.

The meaning of the said drawing is that Hibiki is the center of the universe as he is protected and supported by the Three Guardians (the Vandreads), the Ten Shadows (Dita, Meia, Jura, Pyroro, Barnette, Magno, Parfeit, Paiway, Duero, William, and finally Wing Zero), and the One Hundred Fifty Hearts ( the crew of the Nirvana including Bart and Misty).

-oOo-

At nearly the same time, Paiway had noticed something about the Paeksis Pragma as it seemed to be growing even brighter. She had already seen Pyroro being possessed and floated towards the clinic where Duero was in about fifteen minutes ago.

Being the dutiful muckraker that she was, she had learned Hibiki's real secret along with both Duero and Parfeit and all three were shocked to the core.

This revelation then led to Duero showing his findings to the shocked Bridge crew including Magno herself.

Also, a sudden thought had gone through Dita, Meia, and Jura and in a trance had pointed the location of Hibiki's whereabouts in the radar screen showing the map of the sector of space where they were.

This had led to Dita's and William's scramble to their mecha with everyone celebrating the finding of their lost crew member.

Even Misty was hugged by Jura in her joy, with Barnette too happy to be jealous. Bart was waving his arms in joy at the single flashing dot in the space map before he was ejected so to speak and had even added that Hibiki is just too bullheaded to die just yet as he stood up and brushed his shoulder.

The Nirvana then started up and followed the signal to its source before BC had permitted the warmed up mecha to launch.

All of this had happened while Hibiki had swatted away the influence of the Red Paeksis as he continued to tell the spirits (Peaksis) of his resolutions to become a better pilot and person as he has accepted his new responsibilities with even greater vigor than before while climbing even higher up the cliff face.

Down below, Rabat had sensed that Hibiki had finally gone through his trial with flying colors and shouted. "You had now reached your stage. Now tell them your name."

As if hearing the words of his former enemy, the Vanguard pilot then stood up on the rock face above a mountain and shouted with determination. "I am Hibiki Tokai!"

In the distance, the Taraakan could see the details of two of his closest friend's mechas approaching fast and smiled contentedly.

He then waited for both dread and gundum to hover near him and their hatch/canopy to open.

"Welcome back, Hibiki." William said simply while Dita had added. "We missed you so much."

"I miss all of you too," Hibiki told the crying Dita before turning his gaze to his big brother figure and adding. "It's good to be back, William."

William then used Zero's hand to get the Taraakan into the dread's cockpit before heading back to the village.

Rabat then spoke as he and the other two desert people had emerged from the cave and had seen the two mechas pass by above them. "With friends like those two with him, that boy will never lose his way."

'Indeed.'

-oOo-

Later, when the Vanguard was being moved to a plane like shuttle craft with Wing Zero's help, Hibiki had one last talk with Kokoperi.

"I would like to thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson in patience and understanding," the Taraakan said with a slight bow.

'No, it was you yourself who had gotten such a lesson while being with the spirits.' Kokoperi replied before pulling out a small green pod like crystal and putting it on Hibiki's forehead. 'You are now one of us and this planet is your new home.'

After a slight pause, Kokoperi then added. 'You could come back here in good times or bad, when you need someone to talk to, or when you are in need of advice.'

"Thank you once again."

'You are indeed welcome.'

After getting back to the Nirvana, Hibiki then told his friend while they were both lounging around in Hibiki's room. "Did everyone really miss me?"

"Yeah, even the Squirt was worried about you and that's saying something." William replied with a laugh as he had stood up to get a glass of water.

"Hey, thanks for not giving up on me." The Taraakan said from his position in his bed with the special bed covers that Dita had made a month ago.

"Tell that to Dita as she did not even give up for one second."

"Maybe later," Hibiki said with a nervous chuckle. "Right now, a relaxing game of poker with us versus the girls would be good."

"You're on."

-oOo-

A day later, Vandread Jura had surrounded the Nirvana as well as itself in a force shield to safeguard from the effects of the cosmic storm.

In the Nirvana, excitement was clearly in the air as most of the crew members were on their way home. For three of them though, it was just another planet in transit.

In the park below the bridge, Misty was about to speak out about the crew celebrating way too soon since the Harvest fleet was not that far away if their latest encounter was anything to go by when she had felt two hands on both her shoulders.

Looking back, she saw both William and Seran looking back at her with shaking heads. The Plutonian had understood their unspoken message and thus kept quiet.

Even then Meia did look back at the three of them, knowing the dangers that were all too clear. She then linked hands with both girls before leaving the park altogether.

William had taken a seat since he was off duty for the day and wanted some time for himself to gather his thoughts before arriving at their destination.

In Vandread Jura, Hibiki was wishing for the same thing as William since Jura was being a bit too much of a tease and Dita was not exactly helping either.

It had all started when Dita had contacted Vandread Jura and offered some food for a job well done after he and Jura get back to the ship.

Jura had whined a bit after hearing the offer until Barnette had made a similar offer, and a happy Jura is…well, a happy Jura.

"Oh, by the way, males are prohibited in Mejerra, but you already know that." The blonde Mejeeran said to tease her already flustered co-pilot after thanking her best friend (more like lover at this point) again and again.

"Yeah, yeah." Hibiki said with a growl. "It's not like it is my business to be there anyway. It's the Harvest Fleet that I'm worried about."

"Don't you worry, Mr. Alien." Dita then added from the screen. "I will fight with you to the death if necessary."

"Now let's not be too hasty, Dita." The Taraakan could feel a headache coming as he had tried to salvage the whole situation. "If there is anything I have learned from my experience in the last planet we've been through is to live life to the fullest, so no talk of dying alright?"

"Hey, if you two are getting a little too serious, then why don't you two have a child?" Jura interjected in a teasing way.

"How about you quit joking around and help me fly this thing instead," Hibiki now shouted as his blood pressure was slowly rising. Dita had already cut the communication on her end, embarrassed by the given insinuation.

"And here I thought that Hibiki had already matured," the blonde Mejeeran had said to no one in particular before sighing.

I am betting that if a Vandread could sweatdrop, Vandread Jura would have already done so…twice.

-oOo-

Back in the ship, Meia had led two of the newer crewmen to the core of the ship where the Paeksis and engineering section is located.

As they had passed the engineering section, the girls had overheard the conversation between Duero and Parfeit.

"You know, you've changed a bit since you and guys have been here." The female engineer said with glee perceptible in her already bubbly voice.

"I'm glad you noticed."

The three crewmen had rolled their eyes at the obvious flirting between the two and wished that they would admit their feelings as soon as possible.

After reaching the Paeksis, they had stopped and leaned on the railings. The oldest of the three then said. "Personally, even if we have gotten back to each of our home planets, the Harvest Fleet would still find a way to destroy us so it doesn't really matter if we get back home."

"You've read my mind," Misty said in awe. Seran's mouth had hung open in surprise at her commander's wisdom.

"It's obvious that the Earth wouldn't just give up its ways as shown in our latest encounters with the Harvest fleet," Meia continued to let some of the things that she felt in relation with the pirate's homecoming. "The only thing left for us is to stand and fight, seeing that we can't run away from them anymore."

"I agree."

A new voice had entered the conversation as the egg robot had floated to the walkway where the three girls were staying. "Hey, the party is going full swing at the park. Let's go, let's go."

"Hey Pyroro, where's Kahlua?" Seran asked rather innocently even though there was a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"Pyroro 2 is with her Fama and her 'Ohma' in the park," the egg robot answered in defeat.

It was a no-brainer that Ezra would seek a chance to sit back on a park bench and relax with her daughter and her so-called close friend who happens to be male. Of course, both William and Kahlua enjoy each other's company too.

"Oh, so how about you head on back and we'll catch up with you." Misty said to cheer the robot up.

Suddenly, Pyroro had frozen up as its black screen acting as its face had suddenly became covered in static and snow.

After rebooting itself, Pyroro then acted as if it was possessed, but for the three girls, they knew who was really speaking.

"Loneliness," Pyroro spoke. "Why are humans lonely at a time of celebration?"

"Well, sometimes we get lonely since we feel like we don't belong." Misty said in matter of fact tone. "Don't you feel lonely too?"

"Once, we were one but due to accident with an Earth research ship, we separated ways." Pyroro responded. "My other half had joined with Earth, leaving me alone."

"Hey, don't worry, Peaksis." Seran said as she and the others had embraced the robot. "We're all here for you."

"Yes, Miss Seran is right." A deep voice had added from somewhere. "In the course of our meetings with the Harvest fleet, we may finally meet your other half."

Everyone then looked at the newly arrived William and Ezra with Kahlua happily reaching for them from her mother's arms.

"We've been looking for the three of you for the past ten minutes," Ezra said as explanation as Pyroro had regained his senses upon hearing the child's happy gurgling. "Let's go back. And Paeksis, please believe in us as we believe in you."

The giant sphere had only glowed softly in response as the group left for the party with Zero suddenly saying from his comlink's speakers. "You're welcome."

-oOo-

Two things had happened at the same time after some of the group had returned to the party. The first was that Bart had tried to invite BC using a badly written handwritten note and Jura asking Hibiki on what it was like to be having a child.

With the first one, this is what had happened. Bart had tried to look cool (even if it meant popping out from behind of a console like a Jack in the Box) and gave the above mentioned note along with a passable speech about giving the older woman the pleasure of his company.

BC simply said. "I am flattered for the gesture so I'll think about it."

Enter a Vocaloid song entitled Karakuri Pierrot since Bart would be feeling the same thing once a secret was revealed, that's for sure.

As for Jura's answer, a more thoughtful Hibiki had exchanged his yelling at his co-pilot about stupid things with thinking about what he would teach his children (if he does have them).

"Men, give them something to ponder and they turn into 'The Thinker' complete with mumbles." Jura said half to herself as she had taken full control of her craft.

Soon, the Nirvana had passed the magnetic storm and the crew had cheered loudly. To a certain pilot, it had reminded him of the times when people root and cheer in victory against a political despot or their school's opponent in basketball.

Dita then separated from the group, running towards the hanger with Barnette doing the same.

Sometime later, the foursome had returned and they headed for the banquet table happy to have gone through the cosmic storm and for most of them - being able to return home.

After the crew had their fill, alarms were heard blaring throughout the ship. Amarone had said that they had blundered into a Taraakan minefield.

The minefield was large enough to actually surround the whole of planet Mejeera many times over and it was also armed with automated and block-like turrets with forty inch laser cannons, all of them directed at the Nirvana.

The pilots had thought of scrambling with their craft and destroying the mines with Bart giving them cover fire when Magno had told them no since the defensive system could help in the coming battle with the Harvest fleet.

Belatedly seeing the wisdom in the order, the others had stopped looking for a way to fight back. Even then, both Parfeit and later Duero had run to the engineering section to look for a way to isolate the system temporarily.

As for the three Taraakans, none of them could actually provide the needed codes and William was not even a Taraakan to begin with.

With the clock ticking, the whole ship's crew was tense and anxiously waited for something to happen – a sudden stop in the countdown, a malfunction, anything that would keep them alive would be preferred.

Out of all them, BC was the most affected and had actually clenched her hands repeatedly and thus was noticed by Magno.

BC then pushed a button on her choker on her neck as the counter had reached two seconds remaining. This had caused her voice to change completely from a soprano to a bass (and yes, it surprised me too).

BC then reintroduced herself as Tenmei Urugasumi and he was really an intelligence officer in the Taraak military with a rank of Colonel. He then spoke the required clearance code to permit the passage of the Nirvana through the minefield without stuttering.

After the code was accepted and the Nirvana cleared for entry, Tenmei had ordered two things – a beacon through the newly-made passageway so they could pass through if necessary and his arrest.

"I wish this day would have never come, but that would be asking too much." Magno said, breaking the awkward silence as two of the security officers had handcuffed Tenmei with heavy hearts.

Tenmei could not believe that Magno had seen through his deception and praised her for being a good person. He then praised everyone for doing a good job and asked the guards that he be escorted to the brig.

Duero, Hibiki, and William had joined him with Bart being too shocked to even move. Along the way, Tenmei said with some regret. "I am proud of all of you. You four had done a lot in improving relations between men and women."

"So, why did you do it?" Hibiki said while trying not to keep his voice even.

"It is my job," Tenmei answered simply. "Your job is to keep the Nirvana and its crew safe and well."

"I understand," Hibiki said before leaving.

William was about to leave as well when Tenmei then asked him to stop. The gundum pilot did before uncovered spy said. "If you were in my shoes, would you do the same?"

The question had shocked the two guards and Duero who was leaning on the wall near the prison cell.

"Yes," William said then walked away as well; his posture slouched as he had tried to keep his errant emotions in check.

"Duero?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"No, it wasn't your fault." The Tarrakan doctor replied with a frown. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even be talking right now."

"You're right," The older Taraakan said with a wry smile. "We've all changed."

"And it is a good thing we did." Duero added before walking away as well.

In the bridge, Amarone had detected the radar signatures of large paints coming from both Taraak and Mejeera. There was no escape for them now.

-oOo-

The approaching fleets had set their demands on the crew of the Nirvana – unconditional surrender of the crew from the Taraakans and the women pirates being escorted for trial.

Tenmei was released and had given some requests to a select group of people without the knowledge of the others.

Thus, the women pirates had prepared to leave the ship with Ezra actually getting all of William's clothes and accessories inside a secret compartment in Wing Zero's cockpit.

Dita was supposed to give the men, who were told to remain on the ships, some bento only for the food to be swatted away by a fellow Mejeeran. Dita was about to protest when Meia had shushed her.

Speaking of the guys, they were passing though the core of the ship on their way to the hanger where they were to be picked up by the Taraakan soldiers.

Suddenly, both Hibiki and William had gotten unconscious and were pushed to the waiting Peaksis. Bart then asked his fellow Taraakan. "Is this really necessary?"

Duero could only answer as Pyroro had fallen to the gangway seemingly deactivated. "Yes, since Tenmei said so. Both Hibiki and William are our aces and we need them here and out of hands of either Mejeera or Taraak."

"Well, I trust you know what you're doing." The blond said before they had heard a soldier bark. "Hands on your heads and turn around so I can see them."

Elsewhere, Barnette had gotten the ship in lock down status and with Zero's help had also done the same with the Vanguard and the gundum. She then joined Jura who had taken the baby book with her as they left the ship.

After the pirates were escorted to the waiting police ship, the Taraakans had secured the Nirvana.

-oOo-

In Mejeera hours later, the captured women were put on trial for heresy with the book about babies being proof of their heresy.

"Ladies, your punishment is death for trying to make a coup d'état by spreading rumors of the Harvest fleet to the people of the planet." The lady judge said with finality. "What say you?"

"I say that this is pure and unadulterated bull shit since you would not even listen the truth," Dita said with a shout as she stood up. "We have come here all this way from God knows where to warn you of the Harvest and this is how you treat us."

The other women pirates were both impressed and worried for the gutsy redhead who had spoken her mind especially Misty.

"How dare you?!" The judge said in a sputter. "Guards, seize them."

As the women pirates were led to their prison ship in chains, Misty had leaned close to the red head and whispered. "I don't care what anyone else would tell you later; I still think you're awesome."

Dita then smiled as she had finally realized how her courage had grown in order for her to speak up when it is needed.

-oOo-

In Taraak, Tenmei had received a medal for going far and beyond the call of duty in a private ceremony in the latter's office. The Prime Minister then asked. "Don't you think it is time to get rid of your disguise?"

"Sir, I will only discard my disguise when my mission is over." Tenmei replied with nary an expression.

"Well then, your new mission is to keep those two buffoons from joining the women." The Prime Minister said before sitting down on his chair.

"Understood, Sir." Tenmei replied with a salute and quickly left.

-oOo-

Going back to the women pirates who had just arrived at the Mejeeran orbital prison, Magno was asking Meia if she was scared. The Nirvana Air Boss then skirted the question by asking what if Hibiki was asked the same question.

With a chuckle, Magno then replied. "I'm sure that either he or William would be asking the same question as you did.

It was then that the pirates were hearing the sounds of cheering from the other prisoners and their hearts had swelled at the number of women that also wanted to change the system and world as well.

In Taraak, Tenmei had rescued a cruelly beaten Duero and Bart from a severe back lashing to the surprise of their guards. Duero had already confessed that he had made a lot of friends and that he had found his future partner in life there.

As an afterthought, Tenmei then threw the medal he had received before saying. "I have learned a great many things in my time in the Nirvana and one of those things is that you do not leave your friends behind."

The trio then made their escape, making as much as a ruckus as possible.

Meanwhile in the Nirvana, both Hibiki and William had woken up from their respective naps. The latter was a bit confused as to where they were when the former had answered that they were inside the Paeksis Pragma.

"Seriously?!" William said in shock before the surroundings had changed color. He then added. "Don't worry, Paeksis. We won't let you be taken by these dopes in uniform."

Hibiki then nodded and said. "Yeah, we'll get everyone back on board so that we can fight and win."

Seeing that the teens were sincere in their words, the Paeksis had released them, only to fall onto the lone guard that was stationed there.

"Before we do get the Nirvana running, let's do some needed bopping of the idiots stationed here," Hibiki said with a feral grin. "Being cooped up in the Paeksis means we need to do some exercise."

"I read you," William said with a similar smile. "You get the bridge, the living spaces, and the pantry. I'll hang around the hangers and armory plus the clinic. We'll meet in the engineering section in an hour."

Picking up Pyroro, Hibiki then said. "See you in an hour."

The two teens separated and knocked out as many Taraakan guards as possible with take down moves and surprise on their side.

By the time the two male teens had met in the Engineering section, William was carrying two cases of bento that they ate ravenously. Hibiki had even praised the food as a gift from heaven, given how hungry they were.

It was then that the Pyroro had booted up from his self-deactivation and told that Barnette had gotten the ship on lock down just in case.

So even if the Paeksis had booted up the whole ship's navigation and defense systems, neither Hibiki nor William could actually fly or have it bare its multiple fangs.

"I guess we'll have to wait for the others then," The Taraakan said with a slight frown. He then picked up a deck of cards from the table near him. "Anyone up for a game of Old Maid?"

-oOo-

Back in the orbital prison, the women pirates and their new allies had been broken out of the prison by the remaining pirates who had chosen to hold the fort.

"Sorry for the delay, Boss but we had to time the patrol fleet's rounds." A tall dark blue haired pirate named Rebecca said as she had embraced her lifetime partner and daughter. "We've heard the news from the grapevine and we'll join you against the Harvest fleet."

"There is no need for apologies," Magno replied with a wave of her hand. "Just get us back to our ship and prepare for battle."

"Yes, Boss."

Both she and a red headed pilot named Valore were quickly introduced to Misty by Dita before a few teases were made in Meia's direction. It was a given that Meia did not like to be teased thus had left quickly with Misty right behind her.

After the ships were readied, the whole fleet of pirate ships then left the prison on their way to the Nirvana.

-oOo-

In the front hanger of the Nirvana, the pirates had come in and docked. They were greeted by a visibly relived Hibiki and William before Pyroro had made a mad dash for Pyroro -2.

The egg robot was stopped by seven arms working together to keep him away from the surprised babe and made her laugh as well. One of the arm's owners had used her other arm to hold the baby herself.

"Well well well, it would seem that this is Kahlua's loving nanny." Rebecca said while studying the struggling robot at literally arm's length.

She then looked past the robot to the young man standing in front of her and pulling on Pyroro's left leg before saying. "And this is her surrogate Ohma."

Everyone in the hanger was shocked at how calm the young woman was when she spoke. Both had released Pyroro along with Hibiki and Ezra before shaking hands with firm grips.

"You have just proven how good a man could be, Zapanta." Rebecca said with all sincerity. "Thank you for looking after my Fama and little one."

"It was my pleasure." William answered with a small smile as their gloved hands had met in a firm handshake.

"Hey guys," Barnette with Jura by her side then approached the four. "If you're looking for the password, here it is."

The two young men then looked at the little device that Barnette was holding to safeguard the Nirvana's systems and laughed out loud. The word – "Smile" was flashing in the black LCD screen.

"Well I''ll be darned," both teens said with a fake Texan drawl before laughing once again, this time joined by the others.

They had already missed the arrival of the other men who had come back to their respective stations.

In the bridge, Tenmei was about to apologize and wait for his punishment when Magno simply replied. "Like I said earlier, no need for apologies, all I want is my Vice Captain back."

"Understood," Tenmei said before activating the voice changer in his/her collar. And BC has once again gone back to take her rightful position.

All of the pirates were preparing for what is yet to come as the Nirvana had gone out of its Geo-sync to meet the Harvest fleet head on.

-oOo-

In the Nirvana, some people had talked about the upcoming battle to release the tension so to speak. For instance, Hibiki, William, Dita, and Pyroro were talking about what they would do once they defeated the Harvest as they sat down in the armory office.

"For me, I'll continue to pilot my partner here in the Nirvana as you guys never seem to have plenty of adventures." Hibiki said with pride.

"Is that the only reason?" Pyroro said with a bit of teasing in his tone.

"Of course," Hibiki then checked himself before saying. "Alright, I wanted to be with Dita and you guys too. Happy?"

"Very."

"How about you, William?" Dita said to change the conversation. "Are you going to stay with us?"

"Honestly, it would be nice to remain a space pirate." The gundum pilot said with his head down. "But I still need to get home as I am not supposed to be here in the first place."

"Don't say things like that," the only rose among the thorns interjected quickly. "There is a reason as to why you are here with us."

"True, but there is also a reason as to why I shouldn't be here as well."

"I've read some of the books you're reading in your room and I don't think that a time traveler should just leave the place where he had grown accustomed to without returning of course." Hibiki then laid his own two cents.

"Well, I don't plan on leaving you guys yet as I still have to fight in this battle."

"Of course and that we will win." The Taraakan said while standing up and puffing his chest proudly.

"Yeah."

In the clinic, Paiway then confessed to Duero that she would be giving up her Pai-checks as she sorts herself out.

Duero replied that he is proud of the pre-teen's initiative and that he too would sort himself out.

-oOo-

In Taraak, an old muscular man with a mustache and beard had barged into the High Council meeting where Grandpa was talking to his fellow councilmembers on what to do with the Nirvana.

The meeting was adjourned with Grandpa and the High Council now turning their attention to the new arrival.

"Jin, what is the meaning of this?" Grandpa said with irritation at his old friend. "This better be important."

"Zen, my friend." Jin said with purpose as the potted plant he held with both hands was raised for the Council to see. "See, this plant. It is the first of its kind to grow in the wastelands."

"So, what does it mean for us?" A feminine voice had spoken from a newly opened giant screen.

"Grandma, no Anri, my sister." The guardian of the people in cryogenic sleep said in return at the face in the screen. "All I am saying is that we let the future generation decide for themselves."

A High Council member had scoffed at the words spoken as he said. "And repeat what had happened a hundred years ago, surely you must be mad."

"No, I am not crazy." Jin said in response. "Yet, I held myself back at the time, which I now regret fully. Now, I wouldn't make the same mistake again."

Zen had enough as he spoke up. "Even if we did vote in your favor, it would still be four votes to four."

"Oh, really?" Jin said to himself, his voice barely audible in the massive meeting room.

"I don't think that you really understood the situation, Grandpa." A second feminine voice had spoken up as a second giant screen had opened up.

"What insolence?!" a second High Council member had spoken. "Who are you to intrude on this important meeting?"

"I'm Magno Vivan," the Pirate Chief said with a crooked smile. "And Hibiki Tokai is fighting with us."

"Hibiki?!"

"Yes, and he is the ninth member of the Council." Jin said to the surprised heads of the planets Mejeera and Taraak. "Magno, it's nice to see you again after all of these years."

"Likewise, Uncle Jin."

"Hibiki was supposed to be in cold sleep even now," Grandma Anri said as she had remembered putting him in the chamber herself.

"He had woken up, fourteen years ago and since then, fate had started to change for us."

"I understand," Anri said quietly, her heart filled with both dread and joy for knowing her only son is now among the living.

"So my brothers, are we ready to give Hibiki the power to decide the fate of the future generations?"

Zen then made his decision. "My brothers, we have done well this far and I am proud of being with you all the way. But we have to let the new generation decide on-"

'Grandpa," a third voice had shouted from a similar number of screens that is now situated behind Jin. "I've made a lot of friends."

"Yes, it shows in how you carry yourself, Hibiki." Jin replied with a grin. "But don't let that go through your head."

"Jeez, you should have at least given me some praise." The young Taraakan said after recovering from a near face plant.

"You've still got a lot to learn before you could avail yourself of such praise," Jin said, enjoying his teasing of his nephew.

Anri was visibly shocked at seeing her son's face after such a long time while Zen remained expressionless yet inwardly he was glad to see his only son once again.

"Well, I've been through a lot these past few months and without my friends behind me, I probably wouldn't even be here talking to you now."

"Stop this footage from leaking outside," A third Council member had commanded the Audio-Visual team.

"You shut up," Hibiki then yelled at the said Council member in full view of the screens in the cities within both Taraak and Mejeera as well as in the Nirvana. "As I was saying, we've come all this way because all of us in the Nirvana have learned from each other not hide like rats in their respective holes."

After a pause of breath, Hibiki continued. "We would like to thank you for doing all you can until now, but it's our turn now. It is time for us to take the stage and act not only for ourselves but for those who will come after us."

Seeing that everyone is listening, he then said with a flourish of pride and determination. "We don't need to be cowered by everything we see as it will still be there whether we act with courage or not. The future is what we make it to be."

Dita could not help but say as she was watching the whole speech in her ship before being launched. "No, we will not just standby and not be heard. We will continue to fight for what we believe in. Am I right, William and Seran?"

"I agree," the gundum pilot said as he had finished launching Wing Zero. "I'd rather go out and fight to the last drop of my blood than hide and regret about not fighting at all."

"Yes, back then I could only support my friends and my partner." Seran said with some tears escaping her eyes as she had flown beside the gundum. "Now, it is my turn to fight."

"Let's go." Hibiki said as the Vanguard and blue dread had taken off before combining to Vandread Dita.

The High Council was suitably impressed with the demonstration even though they did not say so outright.

In space, a second green pirate ship (Paraiso) had joined the Nirvana with Magno grudgingly agreeing to the request of Rebecca.

Outside, all of the dreads had formed up under Meia's command as she had instructed them to go in formation with Vandread Dita in the center. She did squash some incessant chatter regarding the appearance of the winged gundum beside Jura's dread.

Barnette herself had gone on Jura's right, eager to refuel and resupply while also joining in the action.

It was then that dreads and the ship's sensors had detected a huge craft coming behind them. It was identified to be a Harvest mother ship yet instead of black, it was gold in color. Also, the ship had also carried the Nirvana's ID code.

Barnette had her ship turn back to confront the newcomer with William trying to stop her. Both of them had stopped near the battlewagon when a familiar voice was heard in the command net.

"Thanks for keeping this hot head's tail from being shot off, William. She needs to cool off every other time."

A certain image had popped up in the communication screens in time with the voice message and no one could have believed it even if they did recognize the face.

"Miss Gasco!"

"Damn it, I've returned from the dead and you still call me that." The thought to be dead Registrar said with an irritated tone. "It's Gascogne, I tell you. Gascogne."

"I'm surprised to see that you're alive, Gascogne." Magno said with relief and joy. "Welcome back."

"Thanks, Boss." Gascogne said with a slight blush as the former enemy battlewagon had joined in the formation. "I've brought you guys a present. Sorry, it took so long since it was too big."

"That's ok," Magno replied while wiping a tear in her eye. "Just program them to fight in our side and we'll adjust our IFFs accordingly."

A while later, Gascogne had gotten her old job back while resetting the Nirvana's and other ship's IFFs to mark her new ride as friendly.

After Gascogne's arrival, another fleet had arrived. The ship in front had looked familiar though… It's Rabat and with him were Kooperi and Tatanaka. They were also joined by Liz and Patch and their ships.

"Hey, thanks for leaving those markers. Mind if we join the group?"

"Not at all," Magno replied. "We've got a few reserved seats for the coming show."

A few minutes later, yet another fleet of ships had arrived. This time, it was those from Melanus.

The fleet commander had sent his greetings to the Nirvana and had heard that a former crew member of the destroyed fleet had joined the crew.

Seran was beside herself in joy as Celtic had confirmed the report and even added that Seran is now her partner for life.

"We wish you well, Young Celtic as we Melanusians pride ourselves with being loving partners."

"Thank you, Sir."

Then came yet another transmission, this time it came from a Taraakan ship – the Todoroki. This time, it was William's turn to sweat bullets as it was the very same ship that he and Wing Zero had fought before upon their arrival in the universe.

Thankfully, his little blunder was already forgiven.

Still, the commander of the Gale Squadron of the Vanguards – Ozeki Kyummel had stated that he wanted to have the first blow to pretty much everyone's resigned disgust.

"We agree with your intentions and would like to offer our support," The captain of the Todoroki said simply.

"We will gladly take any support against the Harvest." Magno said with a little sweatdrop at Ozeki's boast. Misty had even added mostly to herself - "Some men are still reckless and stupid."

Finally, it was the Space Patrol of Mejeera who had also transmitted their intentions to join in the battle and was accepted.

After all of the fleets had gone into their positions, three Harvest Flagships have arrived. The minefield and cannons had managed to take one of the three down while the remaining two had launched all of their pods.

As much as a hundred fakes including ten Dark Zeros had faced them. Ozeki had taken down a fake Vandread Jura and Vandread Meia by thrusting his mecha's spear in the latter and throwing it in the former. The battle is now on.

-oOo-

From here on, dreads and gold cubes had locked in battle versus fake vanguards and other cubes. The ships had hammered the pods with their heavy firepower with Vandread Dita and Wing Zero offering the initial salvos.

Both massive mecha then charged towards their foes. A Dark Wing Zero was about to charge on a Melusian fighter when it was slashed from behind and exploded as the latter craft had gotten away.

This had gotten the other nine copies' attention and charged at the lone gundum. In response, a monotone voice was heard in Zero's cockpit saying- "Bring it on."

Seran and Barnette had helped the winged gundum fend off further attacks as they knew that William had activated the ZERO system and was now slashing all of the gundum copies along with cubes, vandread fakes, and even pods in a dizzying rush to satisfy its pilot's controlled bloodlust.

In turn, the gundum's AI had activated the CD player to play the music that soothed (or in this case, pumped up) the unleashed savage beast's soul.

During the course of the battle, Valore had noticed that her friends – Meia and Jura had changed.

In return, both of them had demonstrated how they had changed with their respective Vandreads. Valore did say that Vandread Jura was ugly thus making the gundum pilot laugh mirthlessly in the tac net.

"Who asked you?!" Jura had shouted in the tactical net to both Valore and William while continuing to shoot down some copies and cubes including a newly formed fake Nirvana that they had all tag-teamed, saving grateful Ozeki in the process.

Seran's dread had played mother hen to the vetern Taraakan's dread as they head back to the combined fleets before the former had come back fully rearmed and refueled.

The battle had continued on as the defenders had inched their way towards the battlewagons with each and every kill of the enemy's fighters.

Wing Zero had followed the Vandread and its accompanying dreads deep in the battlefield before Zero and Pyroro (who was riding with Jura) had sensed something big and big it is as the super battleship that Rabat had called Big Boy had made its appearance.

Vandread Jura had gone in first followed by Dita, Meia, Valore, Seran, and William. It was for naught though as Big Boy had fired a huge red laser after opening up like a sinister tri-petal flower – disabling the force field and separating the Vandread into its two parts.

At Pyroro's suggestion, Super Vandread was formed and charged at the huge battleship with Wing Zero covering its back with support fire against the copies that had defended the enemy ship. Barnette, Seran, and Valore were told to turn back and defend the fleet instead.

Another red laser was fired but deflected by Super Vandread's own laser attack that went on to damage the super battlewagon.

The ship then opened up to reveal a Star-shaped structure at its open front end where a small boy was sitting on its crystal like throne further inside– the personification of the Red Paeksis itself.

-oOo-

In another part of the battlefield, Butan had gone into action just as another Harvest battlewagon was completely destroyed.

Big Boy then fired a rain of lasers that had actually disabled if not destroyed a lot of the allies' fighters and ships. Even the commandeered Harvest battlewagon was hit in various places by the single attack and was quickly debilitated.

Some of the dreads had managed to evade the blast and then neared the ships for safety.

The Nirvana was saved by its force field but all systems especially the Peaksis Pragma had gone frozen. The Paeksis core was already red in color which puzzled Parfeit completely as it had only done it partially twice and the Nirvana was in grave danger during both times.

Near the Big-Boy, both the Vandread and Wing Zero were equally shielded but they were not entirely affected by the red lasers for some reason.

Pyroro then explained that the Paeksis is a being that changes its heart according to the hearts of those that touch it.

In Earth's case, it had become red to symbolize uncertainty, danger, and a closed heart from humans that had lost hope and trust in its fellow beings.

Back in the Nirvana, a contented Paiway had watched Kahlua sleep in its crib in the clinic. She and Duero then had a chat about how different time passes for the next generation as Kahlua did not even feel the franticness of battle outside as she was in her own peaceful little world of dreams.

Near the Big Boy, Super Vandread had once again charged at the monster ship with Wing Zero now joining it in a headlong rush.

Copies were slashed left and right as both mechas had used their swords in the fight before getting hit once again by the Big Boy's main laser. Super Vandread had gotten the most of the beam and separated while Zero was also temporarily disabled.

Jura had the worst of it though as Pyroro had gotten in front of her chest while the others were getting dizzy as their craft had gone into an uncontrollable spin.

"You little," Hibiki said as the Vanguard had charged once again with its sword trying to force itself through the Big Boy's force shield. It worked after Hibiki had gotten its thrusters to full power.

The dreads had tried to follow only to be repelled then cocooned in the force shield's web-like energy beams. Wing Zero then came into play as it had slashed the beams keeping the cocoons in place only to be caught in one itself.

"Damn it," William said as he had felt the pressure outside trying to break his machine apart. "You girls alright?"

"No," Meia then answered as Dita had tried to make contact with Hibiki. "Some sort of pressure is trying to break our vehicles apart."

Seeing that Meia and Jura were captured, Magno had gotten Barnette and Velora to take command of the dreads and lead them against the remaining enemies.

The Red Peaksis then opened all channels to Mejeera, Taraakan, and the allied ships before telling them that Earth thanks them for their sacrifice so that Earth may continue to live forever.

In the Nirvana, everyone in the bridge had fallen into despair at the given speech mostly because of the virtue of sacrificing oneself for another even though it was twisted to suit the speaker's needs.

Misty had tried to rally her fellow crewmembers into not believing the lies, but could not rally herself in such a twisted truism.

Dita had taken the stage as she said that the Earth had no right to determine the lives of the other humans for its own survival and had even called them murderers.

The Red Peaksis had countered that it was only fair for the weak to die and the strong to survive.

The redhead then said that dying could be done by one's own will not those of a higher authority, something that even she knows despite her being a bit dumb and a klutz.

Jura had added that no matter how powerful the Peaksis (or by extension - the Earth itself) is, it would not be able to actually move peoples' hearts.

Meia had chimed in that dying only makes one yearn to live to fullest and not just for themselves but for those who would follow its footsteps.

She had also added that cowards that are afraid to see beyond the bright horizon of the future and would forever remain in the bleakness of the present.

The spoken words had stirred up Hibiki from his short slumber as he tried to get up. William too had summoned the courage to speak as well when his friend had beaten him to it.

After the Child had answered that he was getting bored of the persistent lies that were peddled to him when he had heard Hibiki laugh.

"You know, for all my bravado of actually saying that I'll be stronger and all that shit, I've actually lied." The Taraakan said as he had finally gotten himself in a sitting position. "It's not the weapons, the number, and the power of the enemies I face that scare me. It's my own fear- my fear of finally losing."

"But I'm not afraid of losing anymore," he then added. "So I'll fight to the hardest and accept whatever the outcome may be."

"Blasphemy," the Child had answered. "Victory is the only acceptable outcome."

"Bullshit," William had finally gotten his turn to speak. "With that mindset, everybody will do what it takes to win even if it resorts to cheating or disabling or even killing their opponent. That's just a pathetic excuse for people who do not know how life works."

"That's telling him, William." Hibiki said with a grin. "You know what, you're also scared much like us, but you keep on making stupid excuses to prop yourself up when the chips are down."

"Even more blasphemy."

"So even though you and I are the same," The Taraakan said as he had finally stood up. "I've got friends. Friends that help me up or scold me when I need to be, friends that are beginning to feel like family to me, friends that won't leave me alone even if I am like this, that sort of friends. As for you, you're alone, forever alone."

"I…hate you," the Child said as he had struck Hibiki hard enough for the Taraakan's left arm to bleed before returning him back to his craft.

The Vanguard, gundum and dreads were all ejected from Big Boy with the Vanguard caught by the winged gundum. In the Nirvana, the Paeksis had shaken off its fears and had turned light blue once again.

A portion of the Big Boy had separated from its main body and was about to escape, but the real danger was the remaining part of Big Boy that was trying to create a wormhole big enough to destroy the whole sector of space according to Pyroro.

The worse news is that there is no escape from it.

"I won't let you do whatever you want," Hibiki was saying as he had led his craft to the center of the laser that was trying to create the wormhole. "Not now, not ever."

"Well Gramps, I guess I had finally reached my whole potential in this final act." The Taraakan said to himself. "Even if I die, as long as everyone lives, it's ok. Right, partner?"

"No, I won't let you go alone." Dita said in the radio speakers as she was trying to force her way in through the force field. "Even if I'm not that smart, I know what I feel and that is I love you, Hibiki. And I will protect you like I should."

Dita's feelings had created a sort of barrier that had permitted the dread to pass through Big Boy shell's own barrier and form Vandread Dita despite the yells for her to stop.

It was about that time that the remaining dreads had also gotten in and Super Vandread was formed to block the gate.

The Red Paeksis's craft had tried to ram the Super Vandread away only to get a face full of plasma from Wing Zero's twin buster rifle at full power and the snake-like portion of the Big Boy had exploded as the beam had torn through it from the starfish-like bow to its tail-like stern.

Even then, it was not enough for William to get his machine to break through the gravitational forces pulling them into the wormhole and thus was also sucked in after colliding with a Dark Zero copy.

Super Vandread was not able to reach its fellow mecha in time when it was saved by the Paeksis as the Nirvana had fired super peaksis missiles that had closed the wormhole and kept its friends in a protective cocoon.

In the end, trade and communication between Mejeera and Taraak have been opened with the Nirvana as the middle ground. Still, the crew missed one of its members and the Paekis, a loyal and brave AI friend.

So in between the bittersweet merriment as the men would return to their planet to choose suitable Tarrakans for interaction with the Mejeerans, a certain picture was kept in the bridge, the clinic, and in some of the cockpits – the picture of the a black haired young man and his powerful winged machine in the midst of their flight, a flight of the intruders.

* * *

Well, this is my real goodbye as I have yet to make a sequel to this story or just make a brand new one instead.

If I do make a brand new one, it would still not be a mainstream kind of fan fiction as I would rather stay clear of that (too many of them anyway).

Once again, a happy 2013 to all of you.


End file.
